Who are You Now?
by pageslearntothink
Summary: 3rd and final part of the "Second Chances" Series: [Did you say what you want? Don't go back to the start. I'm asking, who are you now? Did they break you apart? Won't you fight back for what you want? Sometimes you gotta fall before you fly. We're gonna work it out.] A ton of OC/OCs, Jara, Peddie, Amfie, Jabian, Mick/Nina & KT/Ben! Rated M for language. *COMPLETE*
1. Chapter 1

**I am actually insanely proud of this chapter. As you guys know, the first chapters of _A Second Chance_ and _Sink or Swim_ had been really bumpy and rough, but this was actually a really good chapter. I'm really proud of myself. It's long, a little over 3,000 words, but it's good. I _really_ love this chapter. :D**

**But we all know that none of the future chapters will be [written] as good or as long like this. :D**

**Anyway!**

**Hey! Welcome back to the Second Chances series with the third and final installment: _Who are You Now?_**

**I left_ Sink or Swim_ on a pretty heartbreaking note, so let's see where this story takes us! :D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Josh rolled onto his back and tucked his hands behind his head. Alex crawled his way up his body, placing random kisses on his skin until he reached his mouth; gently burning the feeling of his lips into Josh's memory.

"Baby," Josh murmured, and Alex pulled away slowly, close enough so Josh's vision was unfocused and they could feel each other's breath.

"Yes," Alex responded, sitting back on Josh's hips.

"I love you."

A grin broke out on Alex's face and he slid his hands up Josh's chest to his neck. "Really?"

"Yeah," Josh nodded with a small smile.

Alex leaned down and kissed him again. "I love you so so so so so so fucking much!" He pressed his forehead to Josh's. "My Corazón, you are everything to me. You're mine and I'm yours. I wouldn't trade you for anything—"

* * *

Josh's blue eyes shot open as he gasped from jerking awake so suddenly. He reached for his clock in the darkness of the room and angled it so the light coming through the sheet hanging over the window would reflect off the face of the clock. He groaned quietly, putting the clock down and switching off the set alarm, sitting up in the bed.

It was a twin bed, so his sheets hung off the side and laid on the carpeted floor, in Michael and Emily's guest bedroom. It was a plain white room and it didn't make Josh feel at home at all. The first night here, Josh had put the sheet on the window to block out as much light as he could, but there was a street lamp right across from the window, so it didn't really work. He had to sleep on his right side to block out the light at night, and it was just so weird to go back to that position after he had trained himself to sleep on his left side so he could hold Alex—

Alex.

Josh scoffed at himself when his eyes started burning.

He turned so he could sit back against the wall the side of his bed was pushed up against. He hadn't been able to cry for what felt like forever and suddenly all he could do was cry. While Alex was probably rolling in money. Maybe he used the money for his mother's cancer treatment.

Maybe his mother never had cancer.

Maybe she wasn't even his mother.

Maybe Josh was going to go insane thinking about this.

Josh had been having dreams, like the one he'd woken up from, every time he fell asleep since what happened between him and Alex. He didn't want to think about him. He didn't want to dream about him. He didn't want to cry over him. He didn't want to love him. But he did anyway.

When he broke up with Alex, Josh felt like he was dying. He didn't feel like he was dying anymore.

Alex had always made Josh feel like he was dying: when Alex looked at him with his dark-brown-almost black eyes and he felt like he was on fire; when he kissed him and Josh could feel something inside of him break; when Alex smiled and he felt like something was choking him from the inside; when his fingers danced over Josh's skin in the gentlest way and he felt like he'd explode; when Josh could see beyond that cheerful façade and see Alex crumbling inside and Josh _wanted_ to die for him; when Alex cried and Josh could feel Alex's heart breaking in his chest and Josh wanted to take out his own and give it to him to make sure Alex stayed alive long enough to kiss him that night and then again in the morning; or when Alex held onto him so tight, because he was falling down a pit of despair or because he was as high as the clouds in the sky, and Josh felt like the world was burning around him.

But now he was just numb. He wanted to feel like he was dying. At least then he was feeling something.

He dried his eyes with the corner of his comforter and grabbed his backpack off the floor, where it had been leaning against the end of the bed. He had been nervous about going to school last night, so he stayed up until midnight packing, unpacking, and repacking his backpack. He even planned an outfit. But then he had decided he was being too weird about the whole thing and forced himself to go to sleep.

He wasn't nervous anymore.

Today was his first day of school, and he had woken up two hours too early. He had played the part of the 'new kid' enough times to know what to expect. Every time at a new school, Josh was either an outcast or he did his best to be a loner. He either couldn't make friends or didn't want any. This school was different. This time around there were going to be kids that had the same interests as him. He only knew two people here in London and he didn't have his family with him, so that encouraged him to want to make friends. But he wasn't very good at making friends, unless they force themselves on him.

Like Leo had.

Damn.

Josh hadn't said goodbye to Leo, or Danni, or Sarah, or anyone, come to think of it. He hadn't replied to any texts. He hadn't answered any phone calls. He hadn't called anyone back. He hugged his family and took off. He couldn't even look anyone in the eyes. Not even Gracie. And Gracie was one of the few people that had understood him the moment he couldn't understand himself anymore. Gracie was one of his rocks—his whole family was his rock—and he couldn't look at them or tell them that he would miss them and that he loved them all more than anything in the world.

Josh threw his duvet off of his legs and dragged a hand through his hair. He gathered up the things he needed for a shower and crossed the hall to the bathroom, careful to not make too much noise so he didn't wake up Emily and Michael in the next room.

* * *

Josh looked up from his coffee when Emily walked into the kitchen. She had purple glasses sitting on the top of her head, her light brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail. She smiled at him when she came in and put her purse on the counter. She put a kettle of water on the stove and tilted her head to the side when she looked at him again.

"Good morning, Josh," she said.

"Morning, Em," he replied. The corner of his mouth hinted at a half smile and he stirred his coffee slowly so he had something to do with his hands. "Thanks again, for letting me stay here."

"You're welcome again," she said as she got two mugs from a cupboard. She set them on the counter and took a box of tea bags out of the pantry.

"Did you know that when Michael was nine, he knew the lyrics to every _Hannah Montana_ song?" He said after a few seconds of silence.

Emily looked back at him and smiled a little. "No I didn't."

"He used to run around the house singing them all." He grinned.

Emily laughed. "What else has Michael not told me?"

"For two years he wore his socks pulled up over the legs of his pants. I don't have any idea why."

She spun around to the kettle when it began to whistle, but her attention was still on Josh. "Tell me more."

"I've seen videos of him getting excited about potty training when he was wearing only a diaper and cowboy boots that were just a little too big for him."

Emily put her mug of tea on the counter and giggled. "Really?"

"Yeah, really, it's totally embarrassing, isn't it?"

Emily pressed her lips together to control her laughter and her emerald eyes flitted to Michael behind Josh quickly as a silent warning.

"Hey, dude," Michael greeted, pushing on the back of Josh's head gently.

Josh let his head hang forward for a second to hide his chuckles, the first time he'd really laughed in a few days, and then looked up again. "Hey."

"What're are we talking about?" He asked, his eyes darting between Josh and Emily for a second before taking the tea Emily had made for him.

"Josh and I were just planning a lunch date." Emily replied.

Michael looked at his younger brother. "Oh…I see."

"Hey, Michael," she began as Josh finished off his coffee and put the mug in the kitchen sink. Michael hummed in acknowledgement, pulling a box of cereal out of the pantry. "Do you know the lyrics to _Nobody's Perfect_ by _Hannah Montana_?"

Michael's head snapped around to Josh but he was already rushing from the room. "Come back here, boy!" He called, heat rising to his cheeks, and he met Emily's gaze. "Darling, don't listen to him; everything he says is a lie."

"So you didn't pull your socks up over the legs of your pants or potty train wearing only cowboy boots and a diaper?" She giggled.

"You told her about those too?" Michael exclaimed as Josh walked into the kitchen with his backpack swung over one shoulder.

"Is that bad?" He shrugged. "Can I have a ride to the school?"

Michael looked relieved for the change of subject. "Did you eat?"

"I had an apple."

"That's not exactly breakfast."

"Says the guy that was thirty pounds heavier than a normal ten year old because for a year all you ate for breakfast and supper was microwave popcorn." Josh scoffed.

"I hate microwave popcorn." Michael grumbled.

"And you also hate the color yellow because of your yellow phase—"

"Could you stop talking now?"

Josh's eyebrows rose tauntingly and he walked out of the apartment without another word.

Michael looked back at his girlfriend, where she was leaning against the counter with her face in her hands as she laughed hysterically. "I'm not happy with you either." He said.

Emily looked up and crooked a finger at him. He sighed, walking up to her and when her arms wound around his neck, his took their place around her waist, crushing her against him. When she pulled away from him with a kiss to the tip of his nose, she smiled breathlessly. "I love you, Michael Clarke."

Michael's heart thudded heavily in his chest at the words that fell from her lips. "I love you, Emily Finley." He grinned, pecking her cheek and pulling away reluctantly. "I'll see you later."

* * *

When the Clarkes had moved to Mexico, Josh had realized that carrying your list of classes, looking up and down the hallways because you're lost, turning around to go the other way, walking into the wrong classrooms, asking for directions, and acting like you are new will immediately peg you as the new kid. If you acted like you knew what you were doing and where you were going, the other students generally didn't notice you. So that's why Josh had gotten his list of classes a week before the first day so he could memorize them, and he had gotten a hold of a map of the campus. He knew where he was going. He knew what he was doing.

Regular school classes were the first on the list, and then came the ones that Josh was actually interested in, so it was all about surviving until then. Biology wasn't going to start until the next day due to the teacher, Mr. Winston (Josh made sure he knew all his teachers' names as well), being called home for an emergency regarding his sister a few days prior. So his first class was History with Mrs. Howell.

Josh noticed that the classroom numbers were lowering to single digits and he took his earbuds out, stuffing them into the front pocket of his jeans. As he passed a stairwell, he saw two burly guys chuckling quietly, so they wouldn't be caught by a teacher probably, and pushing around a little guy with glasses. He stuttered out hardly coherent sentences while they growled insults at him.

Josh almost kept walking. But then he stopped as soon as he got past the stairs and hung his head with a quiet groan of annoyance as he turned around. He walked up to one of the bullies and tapped him on the shoulder.

He whipped around like he thought Josh was a teacher but then he relaxed. "What do you want?"

"Why don't you leave the kid alone? It looks like he's had enough."

"Nah, I'm not done yet—"

"I'm serious, mate, leave him alone."

The bully glanced at his friend and then they both shrugged. "We were bored with you anyway. We'll see you around, but your knight in shining armor isn't always going to save you, dork."

The kid shakily picked up his backpack and swung it onto his back, turning to Josh. He froze, opened his mouth to say something, and then turned red, rushing past him.

Josh rolled his eyes and checked the clock on his cell phone. He was three minutes late to class.

* * *

Josh wasn't having any problems with getting around school or appearing to be a regular, but he was having trouble talking to people. Everyone had their groups (nothing like the _"T" Birds_ and the _Pink Ladies_), everyone had a friend, and then those friends had friends. Josh wasn't being cast out and he wasn't being a loner. He just didn't have any friends.

At lunch, he sat outside while everyone else was inside because it was 'too hot'. He sat on a bench near the side door of the building that sat on the west side of the campus, eating a green apple he had snatched from Emily and Michael's kitchen. He dug into his backpack as he finished the apple off, tossing it behind him into the pitiful garden of weeds, and luckily found some loose change. He picked up his bag and walked into the building, into the empty hallway, where he could hear the other teenagers in the cafeteria being a different kind of rowdy than Josh was used to back in Liverpool. They seemed too loud, but maybe they were too loud because he was alone.

He jingled the coins in his fist as he made his way toward the soda machine at the end of the hallway. Halfway there, someone stepped out of the cafeteria. He made it to the soda machine first and Josh waited behind him. The other student stooped down to get his drink and cracked it open as he turned around, and the contents of the soda burst from the can, sprinkling down onto him and Josh.

The other student, who, Josh just realized, happened to be the one he saved from the bullies, which had caused him to be late for class. The dorky kid blinked behind his glasses as his cheeks burned brighter than they had before as he stuttered out a quiet apology.

"What the hell?" A girl shrieked as she rushed from the lunchroom. "What happened?"

"The soda exploded." He mumbled in embarrassment, unable to look away from his grey high-tops as soda dripped down from strands of his dark brown hair.

"Again?" His friend sighed in exasperation. Her pale green eyes snapped over to Josh as he pulling a hand through his wet hair. "I'm so sorry about this. Um, do you have enough time to run to your dorm and change before your next class?"

"I live off campus." He replied, pulling on his blue V-neck as it started to stick to his skin uncomfortably.

The girl, who was an inch or two shorter than Josh, but more than a few inches taller than her nervous friend with the established habit of opening exploding soda cans, hummed thoughtfully. "Well, your jeans look alright. If you need a shirt, you can borrow one of my boyfriend's. You're about the same size as him. And you can use the showers in the boys' dorms. Simon, here, will take you."

"Wha—" Simon gasped, finally looking up to meet her eyes. "Haley!"

"Oh, shush, you soaked him in soda, the least you could do is give the poor guy a shirt." She scoffed, planting a hand on her hip.

"But why can't your boyfriend do it?" He whined softly, walking past Haley to put the defective soda can in a garbage bin behind her.

"Because he's going to his next class which is on the other side of the campus. You're his roommate; you've got a key. Look at him, he's miserable. Now, shoo." She spun on her heel and flounced back to the cafeteria doors, her honey-blonde highlights glinting under the hallway lights.

"Look…Simon, was it?" Josh arched an eyebrow, pulling his fortunately dry cell phone out of his jean pocket. "I can just get some clothes from—"

"No, I'm sorry, I can get you a shirt from my room. I-it's the least I could do."

"No, the least you could do is not give me anything and just let me dry like this." Josh stated, following the jittery guy down the hallway until they were outside.

Simon didn't say anything as he led Josh to the boys' dorms and unlocked one of the first doors on the first floor. He walked in and closed the door behind him, leaving Josh in the hallway, blinking at the door in surprise. Simon opened it again a second later, handing him a shirt. "The showers are at the end of the hall." And then he closed it again.

Josh looked down at the purple shirt and then reached up, rapping his knuckles against the wood. "This is a girl's shirt." He heard a groan on the other side of the door and then what sounded like a drawer slam shut. The door opened and Simon held out another, taking the girl's shirt from him and then slamming the door shut again.

Josh widened his eyes as he chuckled in slight annoyance. "Alright, then."

It wasn't the worst first day he's ever had.

* * *

**That's probably one of the best chapters I've ever written in my life. I am freaking proud of this beauty. (Edit: I read this like five days after I first wrote it and now it's just meh.)**

**I'm going to see Cinderella today. ._. I haven't even seen the trailer and I'm too lazy to look it up...**

**Lyrics that inspired the title of this story: **

**"Don't wake me up if I'm sleeping this life away. Tell me that I'll never be good enough. Sometimes it hurts to think it could really be that way, I won't be that way. I'm tired and I'm lost, I don't wanna be found. I put my heart and my soul and strength in this now. So forgive me 'cause I won't forget that, yeah, this world has changed me. So you know when you ask me, who are you now? Did you say what you want? Don't go back to the start. I'm asking, who are you now? Did they break you apart? Won't you fight back for what you want? Sometimes you gotta fall before you fly. We're gonna work it out." -Who Are You Now?, Sleeping With Sirens**

**-Rachel**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the feedback, guys! You're the best! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Great, I'll see you then." Mara smiled into the phone and hung it up. She arched an eyebrow at Jerome when he walked into the kitchen with a calculating look on his face. "Hello, Mr. Clarke."

"Who was that?" He asked, nodding to the phone and swiping a sliced green pepper off the cutting board she was standing in front of. He bit into it and hummed questioningly.

"My boyfriend," she replied seriously.

"Ah, how is he? Did he get that promotion he wanted it?"

Mara smiled a little. "He's doing great, and yes, he did."

Jerome walked around her and stopped at her back, closing the distance between them. "Hmm, is he better looking than me?"

"He's a little younger and not greying at his temples."

"I'm greying?" he exclaimed, rushing away from her, into the hallway, so he could look in the mirror hanging in the foyer.

"No, J, I was just kidding," she giggled, following him out of the room.

"Honey, don't scare me like that." He grumbled, running his long fingers though his blond hair.

"No one's better looking than you." She cooed, cupping his cheeks and bringing his face down to meet hers. She pulled away quickly when the phone started ringing and she rushed into the kitchen to pick it up.

"Hello?" A grin spread across her face and she grabbed Jerome's arm. "Josh!"

"Put him on speaker," Jerome said quickly.

"_Honey, you're on speaker; your Dad's here too."_

* * *

"Hey, Dad," Josh smiled, slipping his free hand into the front pocket of his jeans as he walked down the sidewalk in front of his school. "I'm sorry I haven't called."

"_We understand, Bud." _Jerome responded.

"_So how's London?"_ Mara asked.

"Well, I haven't really seen it, but it's not exactly on my list of priorities."

"_And the school?" _His father piped in.

"Okay, Dad, you remember that game designing class I took at that…community center or whatever when I was like, twelve?"

"_Oh, no…"_

"It's the complete opposite of that."

"_So your opinion of this school is the opposite of that class, then? You hated that class."_

"Because it was stupid! All they had you do was answer questions. I didn't learn anything. This school's course is incredible! They have you do things. I'm actually _learning_ how to make video games."

"_That's great!" _Mara said, and Josh could imagine her wearing that brilliant smile that he knew his father fell in love with, and Jerome was probably gazing at her with all the love in the world at that very moment.

Josh's head shot up when he heard the warning bell ring from inside the school. "Shoot, I have to go. I need to get to Biology."

"_That's alright, Honey, you can call whenever you want." _Mara said.

Josh pushed a hand through his hair. "I love you guys. I'm missing you all so much you'd think we've been apart for years."

"_We love you, too, Josh." _Jerome spoke.

"Give everyone a hug for me, okay? And, Mum, I'll be sending a picture to your phone for Gracie soon."

"_She'll love it. Now, get to class, don't be late!"_

"Okay, later," he chuckled, ending the call.

* * *

Josh made it to the Biology room before most of the students and reluctantly asked the teacher which seat was his. He was directed to an empty desk on the left side of the room. His lab partner wasn't there yet, so Josh took the seat next to the wall. He only recognized two students that came through the door. The girl, Haley, from the day before, and her friend with the glasses, Simon.

Simon stopped dead in his tracks when he walked through the door, causing Haley to run into his back. She pushed on his shoulders and his head dropped. He said something to her and she looked over at Josh. She smiled and waved, to which Josh thought twice about before returning the wave rather awkwardly. Haley rolled her eyes at something Simon said to her and patted the top of his head. She took a seat next to another female student at the first table, by the door, but Simon didn't move. He was still talking to Haley.

Josh realized that Simon must be his lab partner and he nearly started laughing. Josh was over the soda thing. Was Simon still embarrassed over that?

Mr. Winston called on Simon and asked him why he hadn't taken his seat yet, which caused Simon's cheeks to flare up under the pressure of the whole class looking at him. He scurried to Josh's desk and shakily pulled his textbook out of his backpack, sitting on the stool.

Josh did most of the work during the experiment because Simon was shaking so hard he probably would have knocked half of the glass jars sitting on their desk. When the bell rang and Mr. Winston dismissed them, Simon was the first one up and to the door. He grabbed onto Haley's hand and pulled her out of the room.

* * *

When lunch began, Josh took a seat outside on the bench and took a photo of himself and sent it to Mara's phone. He was about to attempt to get a soda without getting wet, but he was surprised to see Haley coming out of the doors. She smiled and walked up to him as he stood up.

"Hey, correct if me I'm wrong: you are the guy that Simon soaked in soda right?" She asked.

"Yeah, that'd be me." He nodded, chucking an emptied bag of chips into a trash can next to the bench. It wasn't much, but at least he was eating more than before.

"Look, I'm so sorry about that. He's my cousin and he's a bit of a klutz. See a couple weeks ago, Simon was opening a soda can and it went all over Ben Howard Jr. He hates Simon now because unlike the time he did it to you, people were everywhere and the whole hallway started laughing at them. Simon got over it, surprisingly, but Junior is still beating on him for it. Thanks for saving Simon from him. He told me about that." She rambled. But it wasn't a nervous rambling, she just started talking and didn't seem to want to stop. "I'm Haley Moss, by the way."

Josh took her outstretched hand and shook it. "Josh Clarke," he said, meeting her eyes, and then doing a double take. Her eyes weren't pale green like they had been the day before. Now, they were an electric violet.

Haley's brown and honey highlighted hair was braided down her back, landing just above her wide hips. She was a little thicker than most of the girls Josh had seen around the school. "So, I see that you're all alone out here. You want to sit with us?"

Josh sighed. "I'm finished, but sure, thanks."

"No problem," she motioned for him to follow her into the building and strutted up to the first table in the cafeteria where Simon and another guy were sitting.

Simon looked up as Josh sat next to him, across from Haley, and then he looked back down, a blush rising up his neck.

"Okay," Haley began, "So there's the little gumdrop, Simon Newman, whom you already know."

"Stop calling me a gumdrop, Haley." Simon said, pained.

"Shut up, I've been calling you a gumdrop since we were six years old. And this is my boyfriend, Rylan Daniels. Boys, this is Josh Clarke."

Rylan reached across the table and shook Josh's hand while Simon ignored him all together.

"Si, shake Josh's hand and welcome him to the school." Haley hissed.

"I'm pretty sure I already did that with the soda incident, Haley." Simon said quickly.

"Wait, what soda incident?" Rylan asked, grabbing Haley's wrist when she reached for a chip off his plate, and he bit it out of her fingers, entwining them with his. She sent him a glare and he grinned cheekily.

"I don't want to talk about it." Simon grumbled.

Josh reached into his backpack and took out the shirt he had borrowed from Rylan. He held it out. "Thanks for letting me borrow this."

Rylan blinked and took it from him. "You're welcome?"

"I let Josh borrow it yesterday." Simon mumbled.

"What did you do to his shirt?"

"We'll talk about it later, sweetie." Haley said, digging around in her book bag. She pulled a silver Slinky Jr. out and began bouncing it while she held one end. It clicked each time it bounced up.

Rylan shrugged and reached across the table, taking Simon's glasses right off his nose.

"Rylan!" Simon snapped.

"I swear my mum has the exact same pair." He grinned, slipping them on and smiled at Haley sweetly. "Do you love me more as a nerd?"

Haley giggled, pushing on his shoulder gently.

Josh blinked and breathed in deeply. He felt a little awkward, a little out of place, at the table while they interacted in a way they probably did every day. Like they've been best friends for years. Josh immediately made a mental note to call his friends as soon as he could. He pulled his phone out of his pocket when it beeped, alerting him of a text message. _I LOVE YOU JOSHY! _was attached to a picture of Gracie, holding her hands up to her chest in the shape of a heart as she grinned brightly. Josh's lips curled up into a smile as he set the picture as his phone's background.

He found Louisa's name under his contacts and started a new conversation with her:

_Josh: I'm sorry I've been ignoring all your calls and texts. You're the best LouLou._

Her reply came almost instantly:

_Louisa: Still love me? _

_Josh: Always. You're one of my best friends remember?_

_Louisa: I miss you._

_Josh: You too. I'll call you soon._

_Louisa: I'm counting the seconds!_

_Josh: You're weird_

_Louisa: :P_

"You're one of those friends, huh?" Haley asked him teasingly.

Josh looked up and chuckled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was texting my sister."

Simon shot up from his seat when the bell rang and he grabbed onto Haley's arm to pull her away from Rylan and Josh.

"Does Simon always act like this around new people?"

Rylan looked over at Josh and shrugged. "For as long as I've known him, I've only seen him act like this once. That's a story that should be saved for after school."

* * *

"Um, Lou? You've got an ugly look on your face." Fiona pointed out hesitantly.

Louisa frowned. "Alex works here. He's behind the counter right now."

Fiona, Leo and Danni peeked over the back of the booth while Jacob and Sarah strained their necks a little to see.

"I hate him." Danni sneered. "What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Why don't you ask him?" Leo mumbled.

"I am going to ask him. Let me out."

Leo and Fiona shared a look before Fiona reluctantly pulled on Leo's hand. They moved out of the booth and Danni stood up, flicking her auburn curls over her shoulder.

"Louisa, don't you want to talk to him?" Jacob asked.

"I wouldn't know what to say."

When Alex saw Danni come toward the counter with a determined expression on her face, he almost retreated into the back of the coffee shop. But he knew he deserved whatever she was going to spit at him, so he stayed where he was and hung his head guiltily in submission.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She demanded quietly, leaning forward. "You're a horrible, lying, disgusting piece of crap. How could you do that to Josh?"

Alex swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I hope the money was worth it. You not only lost an incredible guy, but you broke him. Congratulations, asshole."

"Can I get you anything?" He mumbled, raising his head but refusing to meet her eyes.

"Did you hear a word I said?"

Alex took a deep breath. "Max, could you take her order please? I need to restock the scones."

"You got it," his co-worker nodded and stepped into his place as Alex walked into the back of the shop. "What can I get you?"

* * *

**"I walk the line of the disappointed. I celebrate when I'm in pain. My heart and mind can be disjointed. I built a bed in this hole I made. I recognize that I am damaged. I sympathize that you are too. I want to breathe without feeling so self-conscious, but it's hard when the world's staring at you." -What Are You Looking For, Sick Puppies**

**-Rachel**


	3. Chapter 3

**I wish writing chapters was easier and faster because I _love _updating and getting feedback! :3**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Louisa stirred her coffee slowly and smiled at Fiona when she sat down. "Hey."

"Hey, what's up?" The brunette smiled brightly and leaned over to kiss Leo's cheek.

"Nothing. I'm just missing Josh."

"Me too. He never showed me how to beat him at any video games." Leo mumbled.

"What about you, D?"

Danni smirked a little, popping the last piece of her coffee cake into her mouth. "You were texting me like three minutes ago and I told you how I was doing."

"Yeah, but you can lie through texts, which you've done before." Fiona pointed out.

Danni shrugged her shoulders. "If I complain in texts I come off sounding really selfish."

"We're doing fine." Jacob spoke up when Fiona took a sip of her coffee.

"I was getting to you guys." She laughed, her eyes flitting to them.

Sarah jabbed her elbow into Jacob's stomach gently as a silent scolding. "How did your auditions go?"

"I think mine was okay. I really hope I get to be a Pink Lady, if anything." Louisa answered.

"I bet Danni's going to be chosen as Sandy." Leo said, and in response, Danni almost choked on her coffee as she was sipping from the straw.

"What? Why would I get Sandy?" She demanded.

"I heard your drama teacher talking about how you'd be perfect for the part." He said.

Danni's jade eyes widened. "Oh my, _God_."

"Danni! You'd be an amazing Sandy!" Fiona hissed.

"I can't be one of the leads! I've barely had any experience with drama!"

"I got the part of Belle for _Beauty and the Beast_ when I first came to school." Louisa reminded her.

"You're different! I can't be Sandy!"

"We don't even know if you're going to be Sandy, so stop freaking out about it." Fiona laughed lightly.

Danni's stared at the table, gnawing on her bottom lip, as her index finger tapped against the table.

"Hey, guys," Eric greeted, walking up to the table. His eyes glanced to the empty spot next to him and he whipped around to see Jessica heading for the door. "Jess!"

Jessica pushed the doors open and she made her way down the street.

"What, Jess," Eric growled, hurrying toward the door, whipping it open, and following her. "Babe, come on!"

"What was that all about?" Jacob wondered, and his friends shrugged silently.

* * *

"Why don't you work at the hospital?" Mara suggested to Alice, sliding a stack of plates across the counter. Alice took them and began setting the table for supper. "Maybe you could be a secretary. Or you could work at your Dad's office."

Alice sighed thoughtfully.

"Or because you'll be going to school for a degree in elementary education, maybe a teacher's assistant, or something else with kids."

Alice nodded. "I guess I could get a few interviews, right?"

"That's the first step," Mara replied, opening the refrigerator. "Oh no…"

"What's wrong?"

"Could you get your father for me?"

Alice left the room and jogged half way up the staircase to the second floor. "Daddy?"

"Yeah?"

"Mum needs you."

A second later, Jerome left his bedroom and followed Alice into the kitchen. "What's shakin', bacon?"

"I think the fridge is broken." Mara told him carefully.

"Broken?" He exclaimed.

"That's what I said, bunny bread." She took a step away from the refrigerator to allow him space to examine it.

"First it was the ceiling fan in our bedroom. Then it was the car, beeping because one of the doors isn't closed all the way even though all of them are. And now this! What next? I'm going to start drinking." He grumbled to himself, pulling the refrigerator away from the wall. He made sure the cords were plugged in all the way and opened the doors to the fridge and freezer.

"You already drink, J." Mara pointed out.

"Let me rephrase that: I'm going to start drinking excessively." He cursed under his breath and slamming the door closed. "I'm leaving."

"Where are you going?" Alice questioned.

"I'm going to buy a bloody fridge." He called back, exiting the house.

* * *

Josh opened his locker and stuffed a text book onto one of the shelves. He adjusted one of his earbuds, mouthing the words to the song as he walked down the hallway of the school. _Hush…you color my eyes red, your love's not alive, it's dead. This letter's written itself inside out again. When rivers turn to roads and lovers become trends... _His head shot up when Haley materialized beside him. He took one of his earbuds out and smiled at her. "Hi."

"Hey," she saluted him and grabbed onto the back of Simon's backpack as they passed him.

Simon quickly closed his locker door and stumbled back a little before righting himself and hurrying after his cousin. He wore his backpack the way it was supposed to be worn, instead of one strap slung over one shoulder, like every other kid in the school.

Today, Haley's contacts were yellow smiley faces, and she wore the same 80's stonewash denim jacket, complete with the fringe on the sleeves that she did every day.

"Where's Rylan?" Josh asked.

"He stayed in bed today; he's getting sick." Haley replied, pulling her Slinky Jr. out of her purse, and she started bouncing it, causing it to clink noisily in the hallway as students quickly filed out of the school.

When they neared the exit, Simon reached out and stopped the slinky from bouncing. "Hales, please stop that."

"Since when does this annoy you?" Haley scoffed, stuffing it into her purse.

Simon raised his head so he could look her in the eyes, giving her a look. When his eyes drifted past her to Josh, watching them, he looked away quickly.

Josh blinked in confusion.

When Haley started to talk to Simon about something that had happened a few weeks before Josh came to the school, Josh turned his music up.

_I didn't know I lost it all, didn't know I'd break and fall. This isn't who I'm meant to be. I lost it all, now I'm found missing…._

* * *

**Idk, Brits probably don't say "what's shakin', bacon?" and "that's what I said, bunny bread." But in my mind they do. Because half of my Jara conversation inspiration comes from my parents.**

**"But you don't know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night, scaring the thoughts of kissing razors. This blood evacuation is telling me to cave in. Stay away, away, just stay away from my friends." -Stay Away From My Friends, Pierce The Veil**

**-Rachel**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Say it again," Alex whispered into Josh's ear, tightening his arms around Josh's shoulders. Josh exhaled, his breath ghosting over Alex's neck.

"I love you," he said, nipping at his neck.

"I love you, Corazón," Alex echoed, followed by a moan that Josh could feel between their bare chests. "Don't let me go."

"Never."

* * *

Josh woke with a start and took a deep breath. Turning over and burying his face into his pillow, his eyes filling with tears. "Stop crying," He mumbled to himself, willing his body to relax again, "Please, just stop crying."

And then his alarm clock went off.

* * *

"Small Fry, what are you doing?" Eddie asked, watching Danni rush around the living room, lifting pillows off the sofas. She dropped to her knees and looked under the sofa her father was sitting on. She stood up and huffed.

"I can't find my charm bracelet."

"What charm bracelet?"

Danni blinked. "The charm bracelet that I've had for forever! Fiona has one just like it. We buy charms for each other every once in a while."

"Oh, that one!"

"It's the only one I have. It's the only piece of jewelry I own. Can you help me look for it?"

"Okay," he sighed heavily, standing up.

Eddie left the room and came back with Justin and Patricia to help them as well. The family turned the house upside down in search of the bracelet, looking through drawers, cabinets, behind shelves, under beds, and in closets. Danni checked the pockets on all of the coats, grumbling complaints that Justin had taken it just to annoy her.

"I didn't take it!" He denied.

"Oh, you should check his Smarties." Patricia spoke up. "He could have it in that tube."

Danni's eyes flitted to her brother and then she dashed up the stairs to the second floor with him bounding after her.

"Don't touch my Smarties!" He yelled.

"Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Patricia called out jokingly and Eddie smirked at her.

"Don't break anything!" He added.

Danni hurried into Justin's room and took the two foot long tube of Smarties off of his dresser. He wrapped his arms around her and grabbed for the tube, holding her back from getting back to the door. She dropped it on the floor and kicked it toward the door, and it slid out and fell down the stairs to Patricia's feet, where it burst open. The candy scattered across the floor and Eddie cheered.

"Smarties for all!" He laughed, grabbing handfuls of them and Justin let go of Danni to hurry down the stairs.

Danni was laughing so hard, she could barely make it down the stairs without falling, but once she was at the landing, she was reaching around Justin to get a handful of candy as well.

"Stop it!" Justin laughed, gripping Patricia's shoulders and reaching for the Smarties she was trying to sneak out of the room.

"My bracelet's not here." Danni sighed once they finally calmed down and gave Justin all the candy they took.

"Danielle." Justin said in aggravation.

"What?"

"Your bracelet?" He tossed it to her and she quickly clipped it back onto her wrist.

"Did you—"

"It was in your back pack." He scoffed.

"Oh."

"And you blamed him!" Eddie exclaimed. "Jeez. I almost started to believe that he did take it."

"Hey!"

* * *

Josh quickly changed the background on his phone to the picture of Gracie and Mara he had received in reply to his picture. He dragged a hand through his hair and held onto the back of his neck, calling Louisa's number and putting his cell to his ear.

"_Hey, Twinny_!" She greeted happily.

"Hey, LouLou."

"_Hold on, I'm with the others; I'll put you on speaker_." She told him.

Josh rolled his eyes. "I never realized how much I hate being on speaker." And he pulled the phone away from his head quickly when his friends called out a greeting simultaneously. "Hi, guys."

"_Don't sound so excited_," Danni scoffed.

"_Josh, how's the school?_" Sarah asked.

"Great, I love it."

"_When are you coming home?_" Leo asked.

Josh laughed. "Never. I'm sick of you guys."

"_Yeah, right," _Danni said, and Josh could practically hear her roll her eyes.

"I'll come home for holidays." He answered Leo's question.

"_Could you come back for _Grease_?" _Fiona spoke up.

"You guys are doing _Grease_ for the play this year? Like John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John _Grease_? I'll definitely try to come home for that!"

"_Why exactly,"_ Danni wondered suspiciously.

"Grease _is one of Josh's favorite movies_." Louisa said.

"_That's the only reason you'll come home_?" Leo sighed.

"Well, if there's an emergency with the family, then I'll come home for that. I've got to stay here and keep up with school, mate."

"_I know_."

"Why don't we play Call of Duty tonight? You've got a headset, right?"

"_Yeah, I do_."

"I'll teach you how to beat me."

"_Yeah, right_," Leo laughed in disbelief.

"_Do you miss us_?" Louisa asked.

"No. I made friends that can replace all of you." Josh grinned.

"_Balderdash_!" Danni exclaimed and Leo laughed.

"No, it's true. Haley can replace Fiona, Louisa, and Danni. Rylan can replace Jacob and Leo. And Simon can replace Sarah."

"_I want to meet these imposters."_ Jacob grumbled.

"I have no idea where they are. They aren't exactly my friends anyway. I didn't just fit right into the group like when I started hanging out with you guys. I'm just trying to get used to new people, I guess." Josh said quietly, slipping his free hand into the pocket of his jeans.

"_Well, we miss you_." Fiona said.

"_I miss glaring at you_." Danni piped in.

"_I miss your hugs_." Louisa told him.

"I guess I do kind of miss you guys a little."

* * *

**"So here we are, make your move. We're going mad, I'll help our groove. You want control, I disapprove. (I-I- you feeling it?) So watch me close as I unveil. I'm stripping down, your face is pale. You're the heart, I am the nail. (I-I- you feeling it? You feeling it?)" -Black Widow, In This Moment**

**-Rachel**


	5. Chapter 5

**You guys are incredible! X I'm so glad you all like Haley, Simon and Rylan! :D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Josh sighed. "My Dad once told me that I was going to meet someone one day that would turn my whole world upside down."

"Did you meet that someone?" Alex asked, swinging their entwined hands a little as they walked down the sidewalk to the coffee shop.

"I think so."

Josh woke up slowly this time, blinking at the light finding its way through the sheet covering the window. "Yeah, you did turn it upside down." He mumbled, forcing himself out of his bed.

* * *

"Hey, I'm heading to the mall." Jenna announced to her parents, strapping her purse over her shoulder and across her chest, the bag resting against her left hip.

"Have fun, baby," Amber cooed.

"Be home in time for supper," Alfie called, flipping through the channels on the television.

"Um, I was going to stop by the Millers later. They might make me stay for supper. You know how they are," She replied, hurrying out of the house.

Alfie's eyebrows furrowed. "They've never made me stay for meals."

"Maybe they liked our daughter better than they like us," His wife murmured.

Alfie took a deep breath, reaching for Amber's hand and entwining their fingers on his chest as he rested his head in her lap, sprawled out on the sofa. The house was strangely quiet as they relaxed on the couch, Alfie clicking the remote control, barely letting the program play before he switched to the next station.

"You're clicking too fast, Boo," Amber sighed in exasperation.

"I know what I'm looking at. I'm good at clicking." He mumbled.

Their attention was pulled away from the television when they were both startled by the sound of glass shattering in the kitchen.

Alfie shot up and rushed into the next room with Amber behind him, expecting to find one of their children, but the room was empty. Alfie puffed out his cheeks as he stared thoughtfully at the broken glass that lay on the tiled floor, water pooled around it.

"That's one of my new glasses!" Amber exclaimed, stooping down to pick up the pieces of glass.

"This is why we need plastic cups," Alfie said, retrieving a dust pan and a towel.

"Alfie," Amber said seriously, raising her eyebrows. "The glass moved by itself."

"The house is like, sinking into the ground; the whole thing is titling." He shrugged, brushing the thought off.

"How do you know it's not a ghost?" She asked him.

"We've dealt with ghosts before, Ambs, and they never broke glasses to get our attention." He pointed out. "Besides, the picture frames hanging in the hallway upstairs tilt slightly to the right, and if one of the kids bring a ball inside, it'll immediately roll to the right side of the house. The house is tipping."

"Can that really happen?"

"I think so. My uncle's house used to tip a little to the left."

"He built it himself, on a hill."

Alfie shook his head. "No, that was Marvin, I'm talking about Paul."

"Oh, yeah, his house was tilted a little bit." Amber nodded.

"As long as it's not a ghost right?" He winked.

* * *

"Alex, open the damn door!" Eric ordered, banging his fist against the front door of Alex's house. When he didn't receive an answer, he sighed in annoyance, crossing his arms over his chest. Then, in a brief moment of curiosity, he reached for the doorknob, finding it unlocked.

Alex wanted to talk to him.

Eric let himself in and shrugged out of his leather jacket, tossing it onto the sofa as he stopped in the kitchen doorway. His grey eyes landed on Alex, sitting at the kitchen table, staring down at his hands, which nimbly flipped a razor blade between his fingers. Eric carefully stepped forward and took the razor from Alex, dropping it into the trashcan in the corner of the room. "Well, you haven't been coming to school. You refuse to talk to me. You broke Josh's fucking heart."

"I wasn't going to cut. I can't do it," Alex mumbled.

"Why the fuck did you do it?"

Alex blinked. "Do what?"

"You know what I'm talking about, Alex. Why'd you do it?"

Alex swallowed thickly, standing up from his chair and making his way slowly toward the kitchen counter.

"You dated him for money, you—"

Alex whipped around at that. "No, I didn't!"

Eric's hard expression didn't waver. He tightened his jaw and met Alex's wide eyes.

"I…That's not what the _reward_ was," Alex said softly.

"Then what was it?"

Alex linked his fingers together and pressed his hands against his mouth, blinking tears out of his dark brown eyes. "Peter Connery's mother works at the hospital. She's in charge of records and stuff and has access to the waiting list for the cancer treatment scholarships. He offered to bump my mom up on the list if I broke Josh's heart. He hates Josh for some fucking reason and wanted him to get hurt. He asked me to do that." He waved his hands in front of him quickly before Eric could reply. "You have to understand that this was only a week or so before Josh found out. I never lied about anything. Everything I said, everything I did, everything I felt, the way I looked at him, when I hugged him, when I held his hand, when I kissed him…everything I was real, because I love him. I love him so fucking much. But..."

"She's your mum," Eric finished.

Alex choked out a sob, looking up at the kitchen lamp, attempting to burn the tears out of his eyes. "She's getting her treatment next month. She's going to be okay."

* * *

**So yeah.**

**I'm actually in a pretty good mood right now because something that's been bothering me for the past month or so has been cleared up so I'm in a better place. :)**

**"Hey, darling, I hope you're good tonight, and I know you don't feel right when I'm leaving. Yeah, I want it but no, I don't need it. Tell me something sweet to get me by, 'cause I can't come back home 'til they're singing, "la, la la la, la la la." -If It Means A Lot To You, A Day To Remember **

**-Rachel**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey!**

**I suggest looking up We Are Harlot on Billboard and listening to their debut album! It's totally amazing! Modernized classic rock n roll! :D It'll be released to stores, world wide, on the 31st! "The One" and "Someday" are a couple of the best songs! The band is fronted by Danny Worsnop from Asking Alexandria (which he left to pursue We Are Harlot full time).  
**

**Also, I'm going to start writing a Josh/Alex Zombie AU because I can. ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

For the first time since Josh came to live in London, he had a decent night's rest. He had dreamed of sneaking past a group of _Minecraft_ zombies with Gracie in tow (he blamed it on the combination of _Minecraft_ and _the Walking Dead_ before he went to sleep). He was awoken by his alarm and had taken a shower, eaten a full breakfast with a hot coffee, and arrived at school without a single thought directed to his ex.

Maybe that was because when he walked up to his locker, Haley and Simon were waiting for him, and Josh's heart sped up in the way he once thought only Alex could prompt.

Simon still refused to look at Josh. Haley greeted him brightly after sticking her tongue out at Simon, who had said something to her, and for the first time, Josh saw her silver tongue piercing. She flicked her long hair over her shoulder, purposely whipping Simon in the face, causing him to sputter out a complaint, and she looked over at Josh, raising her eyebrows over multi-colored eyes; one green and one amber.

"What are you doing later?" She asked, tilting her head a little.

"After school?" He responded and she nodded once. "I'm going out to eat with my brother and his girlfriend. Why?"

"Well, Simon is bored out of his mind every night because Rylan's sick, so I'm taking care of him—"

"Haley!" Simon hissed before she could continue. "Stop trying to set me up!"

"I'm not trying to set you up," Haley laughed. "You're just so lonely all the time."

Simon flushed furiously and directed his brown eyed gaze to the tiled floor of the school hallway. Haley linked their arms and pulled him toward Chemistry with Josh following close behind.

Haley took her seat with her lab partner and Simon and Josh sat at their desk. While they waited for their teacher to enter the classroom, the other students buzzed around them. Josh locked his fingers together and rested his chin on them while Simon pulled his textbooks out of his backpack. He clicked a pen open and began doodling on the edges of the pages. Josh's eyes flitted to the tip of the pen gliding over the paper, creating a Zentangle pattern.

Josh let his eyes roam up Simon's right arm, stopping at his shoulders for a moment to note that he hunched over, and then stopped again at his face. He was biting his tongue while poking the corner of his lips with the tip of it. Josh dubbed it as Simon's concentrating face—Josh jumped a little when Simon had reached up to push his glasses up his nose, which was just a bit too long for his face (but not in an unattractive way). His brown hair was cut short, parted on the left side of his head, and brushed nicely (Josh unconsciously matched the style to Chris Evans as _Steve Rogers_). Josh knew that Simon was seventeen (he was a couple months older than Josh), but he looked so young. Rylan had once pointed out that he had a baby-face and it made Simon blush beet red. His height didn't help the baby-face remark either. Josh was so used to being shorter than his father and Michael, but Simon was probably only an inch or two taller than Mara.

When Mr. Winston walked into the classroom, Josh was jerked out of his thoughts, and he looked away from Simon before he could be caught staring, but judging by the knowing look on Haley's face, she had noticed.

* * *

Nina arched an eyebrow at her husband as she stopped next to him on the side of their house. "What's up, babe?"

"Our house is six different colors," Mick said, carding a hand through his blond hair.

Nina blinked slowly. "It's been this way for a year."

"I know but…literally, only the front of the house is finished."

"Maybe you should paint the rest of it," She suggested.

"You're a genius," he mumbled dryly, rolling his eyes. "Nah, I'll make Jackson do it. That's why he was born anyway."

Nina bit back an amused smile and shoved Mick's shoulder.

"Where is he, anyway? He's never home anymore."

"He said he was going to the mall," Nina shrugged, and her head tilted back to look up at the house. "You know, the interior of the house isn't finished either, right?"

"One project at a time, babe."

* * *

Danni looked up when Fiona and Louisa hurried into the school's theater and sat next to her.

"DeeDee, I love this look on you." Fiona complimented with wide brown eyes flitting over Danni's wavy auburn hair and backward flat bill hat.

"I thought I'd try something new." Danni shrugged her small shoulders. "How are you doing, Lou?"

"Fine," she murmured.

"How's the boyfriend that we haven't met yet?" Fiona asked slyly.

"Oh, we actually broke up a couple days ago."

Fiona's smile fell. "I'm sorry, why didn't you tell us?"

Louisa was grateful when their drama teacher clapped her hands, calling for everyone's attention, preventing her from elaborating.

"Okay," she began, clutching a stack of scripts to her chest, "I just wanted to tell you all that your auditions were spectacular and you all deserve the parts you're hoping for—" This prompted Danni to roll her eyes. "—But I must choose the best students for each part. So let's begin." She started by naming off the supporting roles, and then the _"T" Birds _and then the_ Pink Ladies_, "The part of Frenchy will be played by Louisa Clarke, and the part of Rizzo will be played by Fiona Rutter."

Danni nudged her best friend with her elbow, laughing silently, and Fiona rolled her eyes, shoving Danni's shoulder gently.

"And now," their teacher spoke with excitement, "The moment we've all been waiting for: the parts of Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson will be played by Eric Stanley and Danielle Miller."

Danni's head shot up and Eric's eyes widened a little.

Their instructor held out the last two scripts to them, looking from one side of the room to the other expectantly. Eric was the first to stand, slowly taking his arm off of Jessica's shoulders, and taking the script. Danni reluctantly took her script and leafed through the pages, turning to go back to her seat.

"Alright, why don't we all take a few minutes to look over the script and then we'll start."

* * *

**"How many moments have passed you by? How many tears have you let dry, over every dream that you let die? How many? How many things have you kept inside? How many things have you never tried? What would you do if you ran out of time? What would you do?" -Run, Sick Puppies**

**-Rachel**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Josh pulled out his earbuds when he noticed Haley walking toward him with Rylan and Simon close behind her. They all took seats at the square table in the library. Haley on the left side of Josh, Rylan across from Josh, and Simon across from Haley.

"Alright, Rylan and I were stuck between choosing a strong female character or a boy with a torture soul as the main character," Haley said, swiftly pulling her honey-highlighted hair up into a high ponytail.

Rylan pulled his green beanie off of his head, swiped a hand through his dirty blond hair, and then put his hat back on. He hooked a finger on the corner of his grey V-neck and pulled on it a little.

"Why don't we use both characters?" Simon suggested.

Haley narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, pulling her Slinky Jr. out of her purse. She began clicking the ends together while Rylan's brown eyes flitted to the ceiling.

Josh looked up, startled, when someone's foot knocked against his ankle. Simon froze, his eyes glancing between Haley and Rylan, searching from some sort of reaction. When he realized he hadn't accidently kicked either of them, his face flared up. He swallowed thickly, flipping his notebook open so he could doodle and distract himself.

"Okay, that's a good idea. We also need someone to come off as a total asshole," Haley spoke again. "This may be the first RPG project we've gotten but it has to be the best it can be, coming from amateurs."

Rylan and Haley immediately started spitting out ideas, stopping whenever they realized they needed Simon and Josh's opinion, and all four of them jotted down anything they thought of.

Simon's blush deepened when he felt Josh's ankle hook over his own. Josh's legs were long enough to reach Simon's but Simon felt even smaller than usual. With a very hesitant look up at Josh, it was confirmed that Josh was smiling behind his fist, and that just made Simon more self-conscious.

* * *

"Okay," Jacob breathed after sipping from his coffee. He picked up a strand of Sarah's light brown hair and began twirling it around his finger. "A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants, right?"

Leo nodded. "Right."

"He says to the bartender, 'get me a drink,'" Jacob continued, "And the bartender says, 'why do you have a steering wheel in your pants?'"

"I know where this is going, so you better stop right now." Danni said seriously, poking his shoulder.

Jacob smirked a little, ignoring her. "The pirate replies, 'forget about that, get me a drink.' And the bartender says, 'first, tell me why you have a steering wheel in your pants.' The pirate says, 'you're driving me nuts!'"

Leo laughed once he got the joke, receiving a scolding push on the shoulder from Fiona, but she was laughing too, and Danni laughed despite her protests before. Sarah rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, a rosy glow gracing her soft cheeks. Louisa smiled a little but continued to stir her coffee silently.

"Lou?" Fiona said softly.

"I don't want to talk about it," She shrugged and leaning back in the booth. "It ended on a rather bad note. I don't even want to think about it."

"That's fine. Just as long as you're okay," Sarah replied.

"I think I'm okay." Louisa murmured, flashing them a reassuring smile as she slipped a hand through her short hair. A short silence fell over them for a few seconds before Jacob broke it,

"Could you at least tell us who he was so we know who to shun?"

* * *

"TJ, TJ sitting in her Chevrolet, all day long she sits and shifts, sits and shifts, and sits and shifts." Jacob sang softly when TJ walked past him in the living room to get the kitchen. She backed up a few steps to smack him upside the head before continuing on her way. "Oh, TJ, TJ sitting in her Chevrolet, all day long she sits and shifts, sits and shifts, and—"

"Jacob…" KT called warningly.

"I've gotten really good at not slipping up on the lyrics, mom," Jacob said defensively.

Ben hit the side of his son's head as he was walking past him and Jacob cried out in surprise.

"Why is everyone beating me today?" He demanded. "You're all so abusive." He gently rapped his on the kitchen table. "The old gray mare jumped across the Delaware, landed in an electric chair, blew off her underwear—"

KT groaned, letting her head fall back on her shoulders to emphasize her annoyance. She shot a look at her husband. "This is what happens when he hangs out with your cousins."

"They didn't teach him that."

"Oh, I remember what I was going to tell you earlier." KT said, turning to Ben. She opened her mouth to continue, but Jacob began talking again,

"I see Mars, I see stars—"

"Jacob, shut up," KT scolded. "Now—"

"Oh, snap, she just went there." He interrupted again with wide eyes.

KT rolled her eyes. "I'm—"

"Okay, I'll stop."

"Jake, let your mother speak, yeah?" Ben chuckled.

"Can you—"

TJ walked over and couched loudly next to her mother, and KT slapped TJ's arm. TJ jumped back with a laugh. "Ow! That hurt," she cackled.

"You're all so mean to me," KT grumbled. "And I forgot what I was going to say! Thanks a lot, guys."

"That's what we're here for." TJ smiled sweetly.

* * *

**I get 97% of my inspiration from my family.**

**"All of my life, I built this armor and every disguise I ever wore. Ashes and dust, I made an island facing the end. I said, 'What for?' Sometimes it's a battle, at times it's a war. But you're never defenseless, sometimes we all lose strength. Please don't lose your faith." -Madness, Sleeping With Sirens**

**-Rachel**


	8. Chapter 8

**This is a horrible chapter but I needed to write something so I could tell you all this: if it takes a while for the next update or post of anything, please do not be alarmed. I am having a really hard time with just getting the time to write lately. I wake up late every morning, spend all day stressing over school, and then go to bed earlier at night, so I haven't been able to write at all, though I want to. I'm going to be starting summer vacation in May, but hopefully we won't have to wait that long for more updates! Thank you for baring with me! You guys have always been so amazing, sticking with me when I took too long to update, and I can't thank you guys enough; you're all so supportive! Xxxxx I wish I could give you a better chapter, but once I start writing again, I can promise that the next chapter is better than this. :)**

**Oh and I'm definitely going to do that zombie au for Josh and Alex once I get back to writing because the plot is gonna be really good once I work it out. :P**

**And maybe I'll do a royalty au? Vampire? Merfolk...? Friends with benefits!? Spies? Shipwrecked? Pirates? College/University? ...Youtubers...? **

**The au possibilities for Josh and Alex are endless honestly...**

* * *

"Do you want vegetables or fruit with supper?" Joy asked Fabian as she laid plates out on the table.

"Fruit. Everyone will eat it. No one will touch the vegetables." Fabian smiled when he replied and stood up so he could get forks to set out. When Joy walked by him, he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. "We need a date night."

"I'm beginning to think we need a date week." Joy smiled, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Maybe two," he hummed, leaning down so their lips met.

"Daddy!" Lynn shrieked, running into the house.

Fabian pulled away from his wife reluctantly and sighed softly. "What's wrong, honey?"

"There's a snake under the front porch!" She cried, pointing back at the front door.

"A snake?"

"Jamie saw it too!"

As if to prove it, Jamie came rushing in, pulling Ernie into the house by his collar. "There's a snake under the porch!"

"Can you show me?" Fabian asked.

"You sound stressed," Joy said teasingly. "Like they interrupted on purpose."

"We need a vacation," he replied with a shrug, letting Lynn pull him out of the house while Joy finished fixing dinner.

* * *

"Hello, daughter," Jerome greeted when Alice walked into his bedroom. He finished folding a pair of jeans and set them on the bed, only to have Alice grab them afterward. He sighed, eyeing her in slight annoyance before reaching into the basket for a towel.

"Hello, father," she replied, draping the jeans over her arm with a blouse. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Alright," he nodded.

"See, I was going to take one last night," Alice began, picking up a strand of her blonde hair, "But if I sleep on my hair, my curls flatten…"

Jerome widened his blue eyes and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Alice rolled her eyes and rushed to the door, whipping it open. She glared at her father as he shoved the towels he folded into the linen closet. "Dad."

"What?" He chuckled.

"Don't do that," she huffed. "As I was saying, maybe I should get my hair layered? Maybe it'll make my hair a little healthier and it'll—" she hurried after Jerome as he jogged down the stairs to the first floor. Alice looked over the railing. "Daddy!"

"Mara!" Jerome whined, heading for the kitchen to find his wife. "Alice never talks to me and now she won't shut up!"

Alice laughed. "Don't be so mean to me!"

"Mara, make her stop!" Jerome called loudly so Alice could hear him as he wrapped his arms around Mara's waist.

Alice giggled, shaking her head, and making her way to the bathroom.

* * *

Louisa bit her bottom lip and lifted Ozzy off the floor, holding him up to the laptop camera. Josh sipped from his coffee mug.

"Hey, Snow—" he stopped himself, clearing his throat. "Ozzy. Hey, Ozzy."

Louisa sobered a little and moved the feline so Josh could see the rest of the family again.

"Where's Mickey?" Alice asked, leaning over Mara's shoulder.

"He and Em went out to get a…mirror? I think. Or something like that. I don't have any clue really." Josh shrugged his shoulders.

"I love all the pictures you send me, Joshy!" Gracie piped in, bouncing on Jerome's knee.

Josh smiled, holding up his phone so they could see the screen. "Look who's my background."

Gracie giggled happily. "I have one of your pictures on my nightstand! I want to put all of them in a collage and put it on my wall!"

"Have you m-made any new friends?" Matty asked, linking his arm with Mara's, just to be closer to her.

"Yeah, I guess," Josh shrugged again, "I don't know them very well. But we're all working on a project together. We have to make an RPG. It's not too hard. I made one when I was like, eleven—"

"I remember that," Jerome said. "What was it called again?"

"The Tomb of Fire," Josh laughed, shaking his head at himself.

"What's in this tomb of fire?"

Josh looked away from his family and Michael came in view of the camera a second later.

"Oh, hey, we're skyping the family," he smiled, pushing Josh's shoulder so he would move over and he could sit next to him. Their family called out happy greetings and Michael smacked a package into Josh's chest. "Drapes, so you can get to sleep sooner."

"Thanks," Josh said, tossing the package behind him and it landed on the bed. "Did you find whatever you two were looking for at the store?"

"Yep," Michael nodded.

"What was it, a mirror or something?"

Michael blinked, looking over at his younger brother. "Mirror? We went out to get a bunny. Where'd you get mirror from bunny?"

Josh cocked an eyebrow. "You got a bunny?"

"Yeah," Michael motioned for Emily to sit between him and Josh on the floor in front of Josh's laptop. "See?"

Emily smiled, holding the dirty-blond rabbit to her chest. "His name is Zeus."

Josh chuckled. "Zeus looks so done."

"I know. He's got a bit of a bunny scowl going on, doesn't he?" Michael laughed.

"Aw, look Ozzy, meet Zeus," Louisa cooed.

Emily smiled, joining a conversation with Michael and the rest of the family, and Josh leaned back on his bed, falling into silence as his mind wandered.

* * *

**I don't think I ever gave Em a bunny. I planned on doing that in _Sink or Swim_ and then I think I forgot to. So...yay! Zeus the bunny! :D**

**"Words they don't know how to make amends, and all they do is push you to the edge, but it's not wasted. It's all done for you, it's all done for you. Ooh... It's all done for you, it's all done for you. Ooh..." -Done For You, Black Veil Brides**

**-Rachel**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey!**

**Okay. Saturdays are good for me. Maybe Sundays- probably not, but I can give them a shot. So if I am going to update, it might be only on the weekends, until my school lets up or summer break starts, which is sometime in May. :) **

**This is definitely better than the last chapter. It's actually got plot progression. _What?_ Yeah, I didn't know I was capable of it either. :/**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

When Alice neared the Lewis' house, she noticed that both of the family vehicles were gone, but she knew that Jenna would be home. If she wasn't, she'd be at Justin house or the coffee shop. She knocked on the front door and rang the doorbell, waiting patiently for Jenna to answer the door if she was home. When she didn't come to the door, Alice peeked through one of the windows, finding that the lights were on in the kitchen. The lights wouldn't be on if no one was home, so Alice let herself in through the unlocked front door.

"Jen?" Alice called, dropping her purse on one the sofa in the living room. She poked her head into the kitchen, but Jenna wasn't there. With a small sigh, Alice climbed the stairs to the second floor and opened Jenna's bedroom door. "Oh, God!" she exclaimed, slamming it shut instantly.

"Shit," Jackson cursed from the other side of the door.

Jenna scrambled out of her bedroom, buttoning her blouse up haphazardly, and grabbing Alice's elbow before she could run.

"Don't touch me, Jenna; I don't know where your hands have been." Alice said quickly.

Jenna raised her hands in surrender. "Can you listen to me for a sec, babe?"

Alice's eyes snapped over to Jackson as he sheepishly came out of the room. "Don't you touch me either, okay?"

"No problem," he assured her.

"Now, listen," Jenna pleaded, "I know this must be quite a shock—"

"Yeah!"

"—but see what happened is that a couple weeks ago, Jackson came over to my place when my family was out, we were watching TV, and bippity boppity boo, he was in my pants—it was completely innocent."

"I can't believe you just used 'bippity boppity boo' and 'in my pants' in the same sentence—I'll never be able to see Cinderella the same way again!" Alice shrieked.

Jenna shrugged empathetically.

"Why didn't you just tell me you two were dating?"

Jackson scratched the back of his neck. "Because we're not."

Alice blinked. "You're not together?"

"No, it's a friends with benefits kind of thing." Jenna said with a tight smile.

Alice looked between them silently before covering half of her face with one of her hands. "You two do know that friends with benefits arrangements never work, right?"

"But we've got a foolproof plan," Jackson told her.

"So did Jerry and Elaine!" Alice snapped.

"They had a history, Jen and I don't."

"Okay, what's your foolproof plan? What are the rules?" Alice cocked an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest.

"Sleeping over is optional," Jenna offered.

"The goodbye kiss is optional," Jackson added.

"No calls the day after that," Jenna said.

Alice stared at them blankly. "Those are the same rules!"

"But this is working for us," Jackson said, carding a hand through his short dirty-blond hair.

"We don't feel obligated to do anything that's part of a relationship. It's really quite efficient. Maybe this is what you and Justin were missing—"

"No, it wasn't!"

"Calm down, Al." Jackson murmured.

"Don't tell me to calm down." Alice narrowed her eyes at Jenna. "Does Justin know?"

"No, if he did, he'd probably kill Jackson."

"You didn't tell me that."

"Hush," Jenna hissed at him.

"I would too, if I was Justin. You've got to tell him."

"Not now, though. You know, this will eventually end." Jenna stated.

"We'll get bored one day." Jackson shrugged.

"And if you don't?" Alice challenged.

Jenna gave Alice an obvious look. "We will."

"Alright," Alice sighed, "I'll leave you two…to it…"

"Nah, you killed the mood when you screamed." Jackson mumbled in disappointment.

"Want to go get a coffee?" Jenna smiled.

"No, not right this second. I'll see you later."

"Are you going to avoid us now?"

Alice met Jenna's eyes with a small smile. "Of course not, I just need a day alone to get that image out of my head."

"Love you!"

"Love you, too," Alice called back as she headed down the stairs.

* * *

"_Bisexual_," Simon said in exasperation, a blush crawling up his neck under Josh's gaze.

Rylan rolled his blue eyes with a laugh. "I know, bro, it's just the fact that you've only dated one person, and that was Davy, that throws everyone off."

"He hated it when people called him Davy." Simon sighed.

"When did he _like_ his name?" Haley scoffed.

"Never," Simon laughed. Josh watched him. Simon's head fell forward when he laughed, but it wasn't really a laugh; it was more like a soft giggle. His eyes squinted behind his glasses and his shoulders hunched forward a little.

Rylan looked over at Josh. "Would you believe me if I told you that Davy was _smaller_ than Simon? I mean if you think Simon's small and baby-faced, you should've seen Davy."

Josh smirked. "No."

"Well, it's true. Davy was smaller, wimpier, and nerdier. It was hilarious."

Simon rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Rylan."

"What was it that you used to call him?" Haley hummed thoughtfully.

"Sweet cheeks, because he hated being called that as well."

Rylan stood from his bed and fixed his beanie. "Come on, babe, let's go get some coffee. You want some Josh?"

"Yeah, thanks, get me a caramel latte?"

"You got it," Rylan nodded, taking Haley's hand, heading for the door.

"Remember to get me decaf!" Simon called after them. When the door shut behind them, he met Josh's eyes briefly. He blushed a little. "I'm going to go get some chips from the vending machine in the hall."

He scurried out of the room and Josh's eyes fell on a notebook that was sitting on Simon's desk. He cast a careful glance back at the door and then stood from the end of Rylan's bed. Josh curiously flipped the notebook open, which turned out to be a sketchbook. The page he had turned it to was a sketch of a dog, a Boxer, rolled onto its back. Josh arched an impressed eyebrow, humming as he turned to the next page. His eyes widened a little when he saw the next detailed drawing. It was him. Simon had drawn a picture of him. He was leaning against a brick wall with his head tilted back in the sun, his eyes closed. Josh remembered that: he had been waiting for Michael to pick him up from school, a couple days after meeting his new friends. He next drawing was him as well. He was sitting at a desk, which he assumed was his chemistry desk, and his earbuds were plugged into his ears. The next was him with his fist over his mouth, trying to suppress a laugh.

He tensed a little when the door opened. Peeking over his shoulder, closed the sketchbook and picked it up. He held it up for Simon to see.

Simon swallowed, ducking his head and taking off his glasses. "Um…the Boxer's name is Ophi. He's mine. Well, actually," he raised his head, looking directly at Josh, but his eyes looked cloudy, "It's Ophidiophobia, which is the fear of snakes, because he's afraid of snakes, but he call him Ophi for short. I almost called him Snake, but he doesn't look like a Snake, you know?"

"Can you see without your glasses?" Josh asked.

"Just a blurry blobs of colors," Simon shrugged. "I'm basically blind as a bat without them."

"Am I that ugly?"

"No! You're not ugly at all!" Instantly, color flooded into Simon's cheeks.

A ghost of a smile graced Josh's lips. He stepped a little closer to Simon. "You're really good at drawing."

"Thanks." Simon murmured in embarrassment, hanging his head.

"I thought you hated me."

"No, totally the opposite! I think you're a great guy," Simon sighed, scratching his temple and tossing a bag of chips onto his bed.

"Put your glasses back on," Josh said, dropping the sketchbook onto Simon's bed. When Simon put his glasses on, but kept his gaze on the floor, he closed the distance between them. "Simon."

Simon looked up and backed into the door in shock of their proximity. "Y-you don't mind that I was drawing pictures of you like a total creep?"

"No," Josh grinned, shaking his head.

"And about that soda thing—"

"I'm over it."

"Good, I'm glad," He mumbled.

"Kiss me, Si."

"Can I seriously?" Simon asked breathlessly.

"Please."

Josh met Simon's lips halfway, lifting his hands to the shorter teen's neck, his thumbs brushing over Simon's jaw. Simon's hands fisted into the back of Josh's white shirt, moaning gently when Josh's tongue found its way into his mouth. Simon's blushing skin burned where Josh touched him with his cold hands and chill slithered up his spine. Josh ignored his cellphone when it started ringing. Simon pulled away from him with a deep breath.

"It could be an emergency," he said. "And if my lungs explode I won't be able to kiss you again, so give me a second."

Josh reluctantly let go of him and grabbed his cell, swiping the answer button and holding it to his ear. "Hey, LouLou," He walked back over to Simon and cupped the back of his neck, leaning into him. As his lips brushed over Simon's neck, a quiet sob came through the speaker, and he stopped. He stepped away from him, turning his back. "Louisa?"

"_Josh, I think I'm pregnant_," Louisa hissed.

Josh suddenly had a horrible headache as millions of thoughts sped through his mind. "Who was he?"

"_My ex._"

"_Who, _Louisa?"

She was silent for so long that Josh thought she had hung up, until she replied softly, "_Peter Connery._"

"Peter Connery?" Josh growled. "You were dating the guy that used to bully me for being gay and paid Alex to date me?"

"_I know, I'm so sorry, I just—I thought I could change him_," Louisa said embarrassment, tears obvious in her voice. "_He was always so nice to me, but we broke up after we…you know…and I'm late. I'm so late and I don't know what to do. Josh, I'm scared."_

"Did he—"

"_No," _Louisa cut him off forcefully.

Josh took a deep breath, pushing his anger aside. "Alright, Lou, tell mum—"

"_No, I can't! She tells dad everything! I can't do that. He'll be so disappointed, Josh."_

"Louisa, you're wrong. Dad would support you and you know that—"

"_But he's worked so hard to make sure we never made mistakes like this."_

"Because he doesn't want you marrying someone that you don't love and have six kids before you're thirty five. He wants us to live a little. Dad loves us more than anything. Tell mum. She won't tell dad if it's this important. She can get you a test. She's a doctor, she's our mum; she'll know what to do."

"_Okay," _Louisa whispered.

"Keep me posted. I'm here for you, sis. I love you."

"_I love you, too, Twinny."_

Josh hung up, slipped his phone into his pocket, and dragged his hands through his hair. He picked up his backpack and swung it over his shoulder. "I have to go. Family emergency. I'll see you later," he said as he left the room.

* * *

**-sigh-**

**Do you guys want a Jalex zombie au? 'Cause I've got the prologue geared up and ready to go, and I'm working on the first chapter right now. So I can start that. It'll be a multi-chapter story. :)**

**"The bed's getting cold and you're not here. The future that we hold is so unclear. But I'm not alive until you call, and I'll bet the odds against it all. Save your advice 'cause I won't hear. You might be right, but I don't care. There's a million reasons why I should give you up, but the heart wants what it wants. The heart wants what it wants." -The Heart Wants What It Wants, Selena Gomez**

**-Rachel**


	10. Chapter 10

**Well, this chapter sucks and it's so short.**

**But I wrote it this morning and I was like, bleh. I'm still like, bleh.**

**So I started watching Once Upon a Time, so that's kinda taken my mind off of writing. Oops. Please don't spoil anything. :)**

**Life is starting to catch up to me. I've avoided this pretty well in the past. I never let school get in the way of writing, and it's not exactly in the way, but it's part of the problem. I'm still really tired all the time and can't really focus, which explains this chapter.**

**Sorry I couldn't give you all something better. :/**

* * *

Louisa took a deep breath, pushing a hand through her blonde hair, and she stepped into the living room.

Mara looked up from rocking Tyler to sleep and smiled. "Hey, sweetheart, what's up?"

Louisa bit her bottom lip and sat down slowly. "Can we talk?"

"Of course," Mara replied.

"It's really important," Louisa said as Mara set Tyler down in his crib, "and I'm scared."

Mara returned to her place on the sofa and took Louisa's hand. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know," Louisa whispered. She cast a worried glance in the direction of the kitchen and squeezed Mara's hand tightly. "Please don't tell daddy."

Mara's expression changed, showing her reluctance to keep something from Jerome.

"I know you and daddy tell each other everything, but can you please keep this a secret until it's certain?"

"Until what's certain?"

"I think I'm pregnant," Louisa replied.

Mara's hand tightened on hers and she stood up. "Okay, I'm going to get a pregnancy test."

Louisa followed her to the front door. "Mum—"

"It's going to be okay. We'll work it out with your father later. You'll be okay. I'm here for you." She promised, pulling Louisa into a hug.

* * *

Jenna shook her head. "No, no, Leonidas," —Leo stopped pushing the sofa and looked back at his sister— "we should do the theater set up. Put the sofa in the back of the room and the loveseat in front of it."

"Oh, yeah, and put the TV across from the loveseat," Leo nodded.

Arthur shot up from the loveseat. "I want to help!"

"Get on in here, kid," Jenna motioned to the sofa.

Arthur helped Jenna and Leo pushed the couch away from the TV and then moved the loveseat to the middle of the room. When the TV was moved, the three of them collapsed onto the sofa, swung their legs over the back and their heads hung off the cushions.

"Holy Moses," Alfie said surprise when he walked in the front door.

"Hey, dad," Jenna smiled at him.

He looked down at her. "Hey."

"How was work, pops?" Leo grinned.

"Fine."

"Like it?" Arthur asked, referring to the living room.

Alfie scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess, but where's your mother?"

"Sleeping," Leo replied.

"Oh, that's how you got away with it. I knew she didn't give you permission to rearrange." He shrugged. "Your funerals, kids."

"She'll be fine with it," Jenna waved his comment off.

"What happened to my common room?" Amber exclaimed, and Leo rolled off the sofa in surprise.

* * *

"What'd she do?" Josh chuckled into his headset, directing the soldier on the screen to climb up a ladder to the roof of a building. Leo groaned when his character was shot down by a sniper and the limp body fell from another building, and Josh laughed before Leo could answer his question. "I saw that happen."

"Yeah, ha ha, that was so funny," Leo replied. "She made us move everything back and promise to never rearrange the living room again. Jenna wants to rearrange the kitchen next."

"Good luck, bro."

"Thanks," Leo chuckled.

"On your left," Josh warned him as his soldier ran up beside Leo's and knifed him in the neck.

"I understood that reference." Leo grumbled. "But that's not what they did in the movie! There was no knifing!"

"Hold on a second, my phone's ringing." Josh pulled his headset off and picked up his phone.

"Yeah, I'm pregnant," Louisa said before Josh could say hello when he answered her call.

Josh blinked once, and then blew out a calculating breath. "What are you going to do?"

"Mum's going to keep it a secret until I tell dad. I need you here, Josh. I'm so scared. I can't tell him alone."

"Okay, hold on," he said, getting up from the sofa. He walked down the hallway to Michael and Emily's bedroom, keeping his cellphone pressed to his ear. "Mike?"

Michael finished buttoning up his shirt and swiped a hand through his damp hair. "What's up?"

"Can you drive me home? Lou needs me."

* * *

**"Look into the emptiness and step into the cold. Right between your body and your soul. Deep inside of all of us there's something left to hold. Even when we give up all hope, there's space enough to grow, to grow. What do you see when you close your eyes?" -Space Enough To Grow, Of Mic****e &amp; Men**

**-Rachel**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey! This chapter's a lot better than the last! **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Hey, love, you're going to be late for school," Jerome commented, pouring himself some coffee.

Louisa bit her bottom lip, peeking out the window instantly.

"You okay?"

Louisa rushed from the room, leaving her father staring at the spot she'd been standing in surprise.

"Hey, it's alright, Lou." Josh whispered as he hugged her tightly in the foyer.

"Hey, buddy, I didn't know you were coming home," Jerome smiled.

Josh barely returned the smile and hugged him as well. "Do I need an invitation now?" He slipped his hands into his pants' front pockets. "I'm here because Louisa needs me. I'm not staying long."

"Dad, can we sit down?" Louisa asked softly.

Jerome's blue eyes flickered between them briefly and then he nodded slowly, walking into the common room and sitting on the sofa, while Louisa and Josh sat across from him.

"Mum," Louisa's voice cracked when she called Mara. Mara sat beside Jerome as Louisa met Josh's eyes. "Just in case."

"Is she dying?" Jerome asked Mara. "She's freaking me out."

Mara silently shook her head.

"Dad," Louisa began, grabbing for Josh's hand, hoping for some comfort. He squeezed her hand as a sign of encouragement. "I…I love you so much."

He leaned forward. "Seriously, are you dying?"

"No. I'm pregnant."

Jerome sat back instantly, as if someone had pushed him back, and he stared at her blankly. And then he stood up and left the room.

Mara pondered her husband's reaction for a moment before hurrying after him.

It took a moment longer for his reaction to register to Louisa. She wiped a tear off her cheek and pulled her feet up onto the sofa and her knees to her chest.

* * *

"J," Mara began, closing their bedroom door.

"How long have you known?" Jerome questioned.

"Since yesterday," she replied.

"Are you sure?"

"I double checked."

"There are so many things that I experienced at nineteen that she's now going to experience at seventeen; feeling like it's a mistake, feeling alone and scared, considering abortion and adoption and becoming a parent. I didn't want any of them to go through this." He stood from the bed and rested an arm on one of the bedposts. "I gave up being young for Michael when I decided to marry Kate. I gave up looking for you. I gave up plans of seeing the world. I gave up my idea of the ideal family. If she has this baby, she could be giving up a lot. It could damage her future."

"But it could also be the best decision she'd ever make, just like it was for you."

"Kate had considered abortion, but I couldn't do that because I had known what I was getting myself into. I had to take responsibility for that. We considered adoption, but then I held him and I couldn't do it."

Mara's head tilted to the side as a soft smile grazed her face.

"Making mistakes is a part of living. If you don't make any, you don't learn, and you don't grow. I've never told the kids differently." He dragged a hand through his hair. "Michael was always careful. Alice has always had a different belief system for sex than other girls. In all honesty, I always thought Josh was going to be like me, but then he turned out to be gay, and I assumed that'd be out of the question. But Louisa? I never would have guessed that."

Mara squeezed his shoulder.

"I can't support another kid, if she decides to keep the baby. We just had the triplets—"

"She just doesn't want you to shut her out." Mara told him.

"I'd never do that." He said with a shake of his head.

"Josh, can I talk to Louisa alone please?" Jerome asked when he walked back into the common room.

Josh nodded, standing up. He rushed to Mara and hugged her tightly. She took his arm, asking him to go on a walk with her, and left the house.

Louisa tensed when Jerome sat on the coffee table in front of her. She avoided meeting his eyes, using her thumb to twist a ring around on her ring finger.

"So what do you want to do? Abortion, adoption, keeping the baby," Jerome listed, tilting his head in question.

"Definitely not abortion. I knew what I was getting myself into. I have to take responsibility for my actions." Louisa said hoarsely.

"Well, if you're going to go with adoption," Jerome sighed and Louisa nodded in confirmation, "you have to agree to one thing: you'll have the baby before you decide on adoption or keeping the baby."

Louisa's eyebrows furrowed. "Why?"

"Because meeting your child can change your mind." Jerome lifted her head with a finger under her chin. He brushed a tear from her cheek and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "We're family. We don't give up on each other."

Louisa sobbed and threw her arms around his neck. "I love you, daddy."

"I love you too, darling."

* * *

Josh sipped from his coffee as he walked out of the coffee shop. He swallowed quickly when his cellphone began ringing. He swiped the screen and lifted it to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Hey, Josh, it's Simon."_

"Oh, hey," Josh smiled, stopping at the corner of the building and leaning against the wall.

"_Is everything okay? Emily said that you and Michael drove home for Louisa. Is she okay?"_

"Pregnant, but she's okay. I think."

"_Everything will be alright."_

"I know," Josh blew out a soft breath.

"_Can we talk about the kiss?"_

"What's there to talk about? I kissed you, you kissed me back, and now I ask you out on a date, and you say yes, because I like you and you like me. Correct?"

Simon giggled on the other end of the line. _"Yeah, I guess that's all there is to it."_

"So will you go out with me?"

"_Yeah." _

Josh chuckled. "I'll be back tomorrow. We'll figure something out then."

"Alright, see you later…boyfriend?" Simon finished hesitantly.

"See you later, boyfriend," Josh smirked, ending the call, and crossing the street to the other sidewalk. He barely blinked before he was being pulled into an alleyway, his coffee cup falling out of his hand and spilling on the pavement, and then he was staring into those brown eyes that always made him feel like he was on fire.

Alex swallowed thickly, letting go of Josh's arm, and took a step back. "Hi."

Josh clenched his jaw and didn't reply.

Alex looked back at the sidewalk. "Sorry about the coffee. And I'm sorry I pulled you in here. It was a decision I made before I had a chance to realize what I was doing. I didn't really _want_ to talk to you."

"Then don't," Josh said simply, raising his eyebrows, but as he turned to walk out of the alley, Alex's grabbed his arm again to stop him.

"But now that we are here, I think we should talk."

Josh ripped his arm out of Alex's grip and turned to face him. "Why do I have to listen to what you have to say?"

"I want to tell you what happened."

"I know what happened. I was there," Josh spat.

"No, no, Josh listen to me, please."

Josh licked his lips and backed into the wall behind him, leaning against it as he met Alex's eyes challengingly. "You have three minutes."

Alex took a deep breath. "My mom's getting her treatment. She's going to be okay."

Josh's face softened. "That's great."

"She probably wouldn't be getting it if it wasn't for me going along with Peter Connery's idea. A week before we broke up, he came to me and told me that he'd be able to bump my mom up on the list of treatment scholarships if I broke your heart. It wasn't money. It was my mom's life—and, Josh, you have to understand—"

"No, I get it."

Alex stopped. "You do?"

"Yeah, I mean, I would've done the same thing for Mara. But," he pushed a hand through his hair, "I would have told you about his offer before I even considered it."

Alex looked down as he worried his bottom lip.

"You were always the one talking about trust and honesty, and that one time you kept something from me turned out to be the one thing that ruined us. You should have told me about it. I would've helped you and we could've stayed together."

Alex nodded his head. "I know, I made a huge mistake, but…could we try again?" He reached for Josh's arm.

Josh wrapped his hand around Alex's wrist, keeping eye contact with him. "A month ago, I would have jumped at the chance to be with you again."

"And now?"

Josh pried Alex's hand off his arm. "There's this guy in London."

Alex stumbled backward.

"I kind of want to give him a shot."

Alex nodded, avoiding Josh's eyes, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Thank you, though."

Alex's eyebrows furrowed. He looked up. "For what?"

"For being there. For never giving up on me. For being my first everything." Josh smiled a little. "If I had to choose any guy to be the guy that I opened up to for the first time, I'd always pick you."

Alex stared at him, his breath catching in his throat.

"I forgive you, Alex."

"Why?" He asked hoarsely.

"Because I understand why you did what you did."

A tear slipped down Alex's cheek as he grabbed the back of Josh's neck and pressed their lips together. When Josh's back hit the wall and he didn't push him away, Alex took that as a good sign, but when he tried to deepen the kiss, Josh did break the kiss.

"I can't do this again," Josh whispered.

Alex reluctantly pulled away, putting more distance between them until his back bumped against the wall across from Josh.

Josh slipped his hands into his pockets. "Bye, Alex."

"I love you."

Josh stopped before he stepped onto the sidewalk. He looked at Alex over his shoulder. "I know."

As Josh turned the corner of the building, disappearing from view, Alex finally let the weight of guilt, anger and pain still resting on his shoulders push him onto the ground. He rested his elbows on his knees and bowed his head as he cried.

* * *

**Thanks for sticking with the story, guys. xx**

**"If I were you, I'd put that away. See, you're just wasted and thinking about the past again. Darling, you'll be okay. And she said, 'If you were me, you'd do the same. 'Cause I can't take anymore, I'll draw the shades and close the door. Everything's not alright, and I would rather..." -Hold On Till May, Pierce The Veil**

**-Rachel**


	12. Chapter 12

**I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but I'll make up for it with a really long author's note that no one will read. **

**So I'm a bit under the weather, probably because of all the weird weather where I am. I've been getting back into writing but I'm sick so it's kind of hard for me to focus or keep my eyes open. So sorry for this chapter, it sucks.**

**Also, I finished outlining the story, but it won't be as long as ASC or SOS. Reason: those two stories had so many filler chapters/scenes, as well as a chapter goal. The goal had been 55 chapters, and I had that goal for this story up until today. It was going to take a horribly long time for me to outline the story with 55 chapters because so many of the chapters were empty. So I rearranged the whole thing and filled in some gaps and the total chapters for this story will be 29. It's so much shorter than the others, but it'll be so much easier for me to write. **

**And don't worry, I will continue writing for several of the characters! :D You've got _I Swear on My Life_, and I have more things in store! **

* * *

"Hey," Eric greeted Alex, falling into step with him on the sidewalk.

"I talked to Josh," Alex said instantly, keeping his eyes trained on the pavement.

Eric raised his eyebrows, tilting his head to look at Alex, but didn't do anything but hum in acknowledgment.

"I told him the truth."

"And?"

"There's a guy in London."

Eric didn't reply, eyes wandering to the shops on the other side of the street. Alex looked up at Eric's silence and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Eric?"

Eric's face twitched, showing Alex that he was hiding something.

"You knew, didn't you? You knew that there was a guy in London, and you didn't fucking tell me?"

Eric pulled Alex to a stop by the sleeve of his jacket. "Yeah, he told Louisa and the others the other day. Look, mate, I didn't know he was going to come down here and I didn't know that you were going to try and talk him into taking you back. I would've told you, but I didn't want you getting upset."

Alex hung his head again, squeezing his eyes shut.

"I'm sorry," Eric said sincerely.

"Thanks for not telling me. I probably would have fucking whipped up some elaborate scheme to get him back," Alex joked.

* * *

"Gracie," Alice hissed into the dark hallway.

Gracie let go of the handle to Jerome and Mara's bedroom door and whipped around to her older sister. "Ally?

"Come here," Alice waved her hand, motioning for Gracie to come closer.

"I had a bad dream," Gracie told her quietly.

"I know, I can't sleep either. Let's go downstairs, okay?" Alice led the way to the first floor and began rearranging the chairs in the dining room without a word. "Get the pillows off the sofas, would you?"

Gracie nodded, rushing into the living room for the throw pillows while Alice unfolded a fresh sheet from a laundry basket. She draped it over the chairs, holding the ends down with books, and then she grabbed the emergency flashlight off the refrigerator. She and Gracie laid down under the sheet and Gracie opened a book she had chosen to listen to Alice read.

* * *

"What are you doing up?" Michael asked, laying back on his bed.

"I could ask you the same question, Clarke," Emily replied.

"I asked you first."

Emily groaned a little on the other line. "Essay."

Michael chuckled. "What about?"

"Boring zoology stuff," she said teasingly.

"Oh, well, make sure you're bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when I get home. I'll take you out so you can get your mind off that and back on me."

"You're so full of yourself," Emily laughed, and then her tone became serious. "How's Louisa?"

"She's holding up as well as one would expect a pregnant seventeen year old to. She's got some things to sort out and think about."

"I can imagine," Emily murmured. "Everything will work out, though. Whatever's for the best, right?"

"Yeah, she's part of a family that wouldn't let her go through it alone," Michael sighed.

"Get some sleep—"

"I could tell you the same thing."

"—and come home, alright?"

"Josh and I will be home for lunch, promise."

"I love you."

"I love you, too, darling."

* * *

**So yeah, fillers like this one. Bleh. :/**

**"Boom boom boom boom! Gonna shoot you right down, take you in my arms, I'm in love with you. Love that is true, boom boom boom boom. I like the way you walk, I like the way you talk. When you walk that walk, and you talk that talk, you knock me out, right off of my feet." -Boom Boom, The Animals**

**-Rachel**


	13. Chapter 13

**So hopefully this makes up for the last chapter! It's literally just a date, but I felt so inspired when I started writing yesterday and this happened. So it's actually quite long. 200 words away from 2000 words. :) Much longer than the last chapter.**

**Enjoy! :D**

* * *

"Are you nervous?" Josh asked gently.

Simon took a gulp from his glass of water and then set it back down on the table for two. His brown eyes darted around the restaurant from behind his glasses before settling on Josh's blue, understanding orbs. "A little."

"Don't be," Josh smiled, reaching across the table to chuck him under the chin playfully.

Simon breathed out a laugh, his pale cheeks turning pink. "I just haven't been with anyone since my ex, you know?"

"I haven't been with anyone since my ex either," Josh assured him. When Simon looked down at his menu, Josh took a deep breath. "Speaking of my ex, there's something I needed to tell you."

Simon looked over his glasses.

Josh hesitated. "When I went home for Louisa, I ran into him. And he told me that he loved me. And we kissed. I didn't push him away as quickly as I should have. And this is a bad time to tell you about it. But I needed you to know. He and I broke up because he kept something from me and I don't want that to happen to us. I want us to be honest with each other."

Simon nodded.

"Thoughts?"

Simon pushed his glasses up his nose and put his menu down. "Honestly, if my ex kissed me, I would take just a little too long to push him away as well. It's okay."

"You sure?"

"You want to be with me?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to be with him?"

"No."

"Then everything's okay."

Josh smiled gratefully. "I don't really like this table between us right now."

"We kind of went backwards," Simon pointed out, lifting a hand to scratch the hollow of his throat. "A date usually comes before the kissing."

"My brain doesn't really follow directions very well."

Simon shook his head with a small smile playing on his lips. He looked back down at his menu just as the waitress walked up to the table and asked them for their orders.

"You want to have a few more minutes to decide?" Josh asked, but Simon shook his head, feeling embarrassed for taking so long to choose something.

"I'll have the special," He said quickly, without a second thought.

Josh smiled at the waitress. "Chicken Milanese, please."

Once she left the table, Josh sat back in his chair, sipping from his glass of water. "Tell me about your ex. Davy, right? I told you about Alex."

Simon shrugged a shoulder, breaking a piece off the loaf of bread in the middle of the table and dipping it into the small bowl of olive oil sprinkled with fresh-ground pepper. "There's not much to tell. I mean we didn't have a budding romance like you and Alex."

"I don't even know what that means," Josh said with a roll of his eyes.

"Well, I know what it means, and by the way you describe your relationship, that's what it was. It showed promise and potential." Simon retorted. He reached down to the pocket of his jacket, which was draped over the back of his chair, and pulled out a pen. He reached for Josh's hand and pulled his arm over the table. He pressed the tip of the pen to Josh's pale wrist and started talking again. "Davy and I met at the park. He was throwing rocks at birds that an old woman was trying to feed with her granddaughter. And then he saw me, I suppose, and thought I'd be more interesting. He and I hit it off and…I never understood our relationship."

Josh looked down at the tall, thin tree Simon was outlining on his wrist. "Why didn't you understand it?"

"We never established what we were. We went on dates and said 'I love you' when we wanted to and kissed and did more intimate things. But his sexual orientation was never established. If you asked him if he was gay or bi or straight, he'd just say something like 'what do those words even mean?' or 'I don't know, that's not important' or 'is a label really necessary?' We acted like a couple, but we weren't one, exactly."

Simon pulled the pen away from Josh's arm when the waitress came by with their meals. When she set Simon's in front of him, he stared at it stupidly until she was gone and Josh asked him what was wrong. "I ordered the special."

"I know."

Simon looked up at him with a distressed expression.

"You're nervous," Josh prompted knowingly.

"And I ordered the special," Simon huffed. "I'm allergic to shellfish."

"Here, let's trade," Josh offered.

"You don't have to do that—"

"I don't mind. I love shrimp. And I don't really like roasted potatoes anyway."

Simon smiled, taking Josh's dish from him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Continue. You acted like a couple, but weren't a couple."

"Arm?"

Josh laughed, eyes glancing heavenward, and letting his wrist fall into Simon's waiting hand. "Are you going to draw on me every time we talk?"

"It calms my nerves. Helps me focus on something other than my anxiety at the moment."

"I guess I don't really mind. No one's ever drawn on me before."

"I feel so honored." Simon grinned. "So the first time I realized Davy and I weren't really a couple was when he came back to our room—Rylan and I weren't roommates at the time—and he smelled all fruity. Rylan told you that he was smaller, nerdier and wimpier than me? That doesn't mean he smelled fruity. He always had this spicy aroma that clung to him; I don't even know how to explain it. But anyway, point is, he came back to the room, kissed me, and he smelled like a fruit cocktail. So I asked him about it. He told me that he was at one of his last classes and there had been a girl there that he helped understand something, and she had this fruit smell that just stuck to him for some reason."

Josh pulled his arm away when Simon was finished drawing and looked down at the tree. "You're so good at drawing. Gracie would love you."

Simon smiled a little, stabbing a piece of chicken with his fork and lifting it to his mouth. "Artsy?"

"She's wanted to be an artist since she could hold a crayon," Josh chuckled.

Simon sighed a little and continued with his story, "I didn't exactly believe him, but I wanted to. I didn't want him to be cheating on me. Then the next day, Haley told me that she saw Davy laughing with an intern or secretary or something at the head teacher's office and then they ran off to a closet. I confronted Davy about it and we had a fight and he told me that if I wanted to be with him, I had to understand that the way he was wired, he was always going to want women, but the only guy that would ever be in his life would be me. So if we had an open relationship, we'd work. I agreed."

Josh remained silent, eyes darting over Simon's face that bore a slightly embarrassed expression.

"I didn't like that he was with so many girls. I was so jealous that I did something that I knew would hurt him. I had a one night stand with a guy from one of his classes. When I told Davy, he broke up with me." Simon relayed, shrugging again and meeting Josh's eyes. "I guess, that was what I wanted. I just didn't have the guts to break it off with him myself."

"Did you love him?" Josh asked.

"I thought I did," Simon murmured. "Maybe I didn't, but it always felt like I did. I was heartbroken when he cheated on me and broke up with me. I don't know how he felt when I cheated on him, but I knew it made him angry."

"How can a guy smaller, nerdier and wimpier than you cheat on you like it's no big deal?" Josh scoffed. "I mean, you're an incredible guy, and, no offence, but he sounds like a douchebag."

"He was a douchebag," Simon giggled.

"But how could someone do that? It's like throwing away a diamond and picking up a rock."

Simon blushed.

"So why did you call him 'sweet cheeks?'" Josh snorted.

"Because it annoyed him."

"No, there has to be another reason."

"Well, if you think it's got something to do with his cheeks, you're wrong," Simon rolled his eyes. "I like those weird terms of endearment that seem to have gone out of style."

Josh's eyes widened a little. "You're not going to call me something weird, are you?"

"I'll figure something out by the end of the night," Simon promised.

"Oh, God," Josh mumbled.

"Come up with one for me. It'll make you feel better."

"Why can't I just call you 'babe' or something?" Josh whined.

"Because everyone calls everyone babe. Be more creative."

Josh sighed.

"Don't look it up on the internet."

Josh chuckled. "No, I was thinking about calling my parents for pointers. My dad has called my mum Beansybop since they were teenagers."

Simon giggled. "That's cute."

"It's weird. I don't even know what it means." Josh grumbled.

"It doesn't have to mean anything," Simon pointed out.

He picked up the dessert menu. "Want some dessert?"

"Sure," Simon nodded, reaching across the table and motioning for Josh to lean toward him. He took ahold of Josh's white collar and unfastened the third button down. "I like the pudding concoction they've got here."

Josh leaned back once Simon was finished fiddling with his collar. "Pudding. When was the last time I had pudding?"

Simon stared at him thoughtfully.

"What?"

"Nothing, just thinking about pudding," Simon smiled innocently.

* * *

"You're such a gentleman," Simon said teasingly, pulling his room key out of his trousers' pocket. "Thank you for walking me to the door."

"I was following you. I wanted a kiss." Josh replied.

Simon turned around and gave him a calculating look. "I guess you deserve it."

"Damn right," Josh murmured, cupping the back of Simon's neck, slanting his lips across his boyfriend's.

Simon pulled back with an amused expression. "I'll see you tomorrow, Pudding Pop."

Josh blinked. "What?"

"Pudding Pop," Simon repeated. "That's the term of endearment I came up with for you."

"Why?" Josh made a face and felt his neck begin to grow hot in slight embarrassment of the name.

"There doesn't have to be a reason," Simon stated, carding a hand through Josh's blond hair. "I expect you to have a name for me tomorrow."

Josh sighed heavily, leaning down for another kiss. "Damn it."

Simon giggled quietly, pecking his lips. "See you tomorrow."

"'Night," Josh mumbled absentmindedly as Simon closed his dorm room door.

* * *

**So yeah, all Josh and Simon but this just came out of me. I don't know why I was suddenly so inspired to write them, but I guess I hadn't written for so long that it was all just waiting to be released. :/**

**:D **

**Thanks for the reviews, guys! Xxxxx**

**"I was raised in the valley, there was shadows of death. Got out alive, but with scars I can't forget. This kid back at school, subdued and shy, an orphan and a brother and unseen by most eyes. I don't know what it was that made a piece of him die, took a boy to the forest, slaughtered him with a scythe. Stamped on his face, an impression in the dirt. Do you think the silence makes a good man convert?" -Don't Go, Bring Me The Horizon**

**-Rachel**


	14. Chapter 14

**I did some editing to the outline and I cut two chapters from it. Now, we're down to 27 instead of 29, but remember, this will not be the end! I've got more things planned! :D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Simon C. Newman," Josh read out loud, studying the signature at the bottom of one of Simon's old drawings: Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader during their first light saber duel.

Simon looked up at Josh. He could imagine the gears turning in Josh's head as he thought about the middle initial. "When I was fourteen, I thought it was cool to include my middle initial. I don't do that anymore."

"Simon _C_. Newman," Josh murmured, laying out on Simon's bed. "C… C… Carter?"

Simon's gaze turned from amused to knowing and he sighed. "No."

"Caesar?"

Simon snorted. "No."

"Chance?"

"No, Josh."

"Chandler? Charles? Clark?"

"No, no, and no," Simon giggled, pulling the sketchbook out of Josh's hands and tossing it onto Rylan's bed. He boldly straddled Josh's hips and leaned down so he could kiss Josh's neck.

Josh arched his neck to give Simon better access and raised his hands to his boyfriend's brown hair. "Collin?"

"No," Simon sighed heavily, nibbling at Josh's ear in hopes of distracting him.

But Josh continued listing names off the top of his head, stubbornly keeping his attention on the mystery of Simon's middle name as his hands trailed up and down Simon's spine thoughtfully. "Simon…Christian?" A moaned ripped from his throat when Simon bit down hard on his shoulder in response. "No, yeah, I know that sounds bad."

Simon's fingers started to unfasten the buttons of Josh's shirt, his tongue trailing behind the parting fabric. Josh shuddered beneath him.

"Craig?"

"Pudding Pop, please," Simon pleaded with a breathy laugh.

"What? Oh, sorry."

"Sorry _what_?"

Josh groaned, feigning pain. "Please don't make me say it."

"If you say it, I'll tell you what my middle name is." Simon murmured, pulling his own shirt off when Josh started tugging on the hem of it.

"Sorry, pumpkin."

Simon grinned, kissing him quickly. "It's Christopher."

"Simon Christopher Newman," Josh said slowly, as if testing the name on his tongue. "Do you know what my middle name is?"

"Henry."

"Well, that's not even fair," Josh grumbled.

Josh felt Simon's giggle against his left hip.

* * *

"I'll kill him for you," Danni offered venomously, her hands fisting on the table.

Louisa smiled at her gratefully. "As sweet as that is, D, I was a part of it as well. I made a choice and now I have to deal with the consequences."

"Are you sure you don't want us to beat him up at least?" Jacob asked, arching an eyebrow, and Leo nodded in agreement.

"I've got some mad ninja skills," he grunted as he punched his fists out in front of him.

"We've got your back, Lou," Fiona assured her.

"We're here for anything you need," Sarah piped in.

"You guys are the best," Louisa gushed.

"We do try," Jacob grinned lopsidedly, slouching a little in the booth so he could rest his head on Sarah's shoulder.

"Oh my, God, don't tell me," Danni moaned in realization, her green eyes widening.

"What?" Fiona questioned, cocking her head in confusion.

"You dropped out of the play, didn't you," Danni hissed at Louisa.

"I…had to," Louisa shrugged sadly. "By opening night, I'll almost be ready to have the baby."

"This sucks," Fiona gasped, linking her arm with Louisa's and resting their heads together comfortingly.

"I guess it's just the universe's way of punishing me for dating the guy responsible for breaking my brother's heart. Missing out on being a _Pink Lady_ in one of the most incredible musicals of all time." Louisa murmured.

* * *

"Hey," Justin smiled, sliding his hands into his jean pockets when Alice opened the front door of her house.

"Hey," she smiled.

"You wanna get a coffee?" he asked.

She shrugged and nodded her head. She stepped out of the house and followed him down the sidewalk to the coffee shop. When they had their beverages to go, they walked down the street in silence until Justin broke it.

"What do you want to do when you get out of high school?"

Alice's cheeks tinted a little bit. "Don't laugh."

He smirked but didn't say anything.

"I want to be a mum." She giggled a little bit, gliding a hand through her blonde hair. "I want to stay at home and take care of my kids."

He didn't laugh he just glanced at her thoughtfully. "How many kids?"

She widened her eyes a little. "Two or three."

"Well, with your family's unusual fertility luck, I'll bet you'll have septuplets." He teased.

"Oh, God," she murmured.

He laughed.

"What do you want to do?" she said, sipping from her coffee.

"Don't tell my mom." Justin warned.

"You want to be a male stripper?"

He chuckled. "No, if I want to be a male stripper, don't tell my dad." He swallowed, looking down at the sidewalk as he stopped. "I haven't told my mom yet because I don't want to make her cry. And my mom doesn't cry."

"What is it?" Alice questioned warily.

"I'm going to join the military."

Her eyes widened in shock.

"My dad's know for a couple years. And I told Jen yesterday. She's worried about me."

"It's really dangerous!" she exclaimed.

"Alice, it's dangerous just walking through malls, going shopping, or walking down the street. It barely even matters where you live anymore. You can get shot or blown up and people act like they don't know that."

She sighed, dumping her coffee in a garbage can on the sidewalk.

"I'm going to be okay." He assured her.

"You can't say that like you know it." She said, turning to him seriously.

"I might not even see any combat anyway," He stated. "I have to train for several years. It could be years before I'm even deployed, and even then, I might not be. You can't just write me off as good as dead before we even know what's going on."

Alice nodded.

"I'm still an American. I want to fight for my country."

"I just don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be okay." He whispered, kissing her forehead as he pulled her in for a reassuring hug.

* * *

**"Pretty little lady with the swollen eyes, won't you show them to me? I know I'm not that perfect, but you stay a while, baby then you will see. Miles away, I can still feel you lay your head down on my embrace, my embrace. Far away..." -When You Can't Sleep At Night, Of Mice &amp; Men**

**-Rachel**


	15. Chapter 15

**Whoop! Over half way to the end of the series! :D Sad, true, but it's an accomplishment for me! ;)**

**Thank you, guys, for all of the lovely reviews as always! Xx**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Eddie nodded encouragingly when Justin looked to him for support. His son took a deep breath and tapped Patricia on the shoulder.

She cast a glance in his direction with an arched eyebrow. "Hey."

"Hey, mom, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Go for it."

"I'd really appreciate it if I could have your full attention," Justin said softly.

Patricia shrugged her shoulders, motioning for her husband to take over grilling the chicken on the stove. She let Justin lead her to one of the kitchen table chairs and he sat across from her at the corner of the table. "What's this about?"

"I'm going to be graduating soon. I know what I want to do. I've known for a few years." He scratched his temple. "I'm beating around the bush. Mom, I'm…I'm going to join the United States Army."

Patricia immediately shot out of her chair and pointed an accusatory finger at Eddie. "This is all Rick's fault; telling Justin stories about World War II since he was a baby—"

"Mom," Justin wrapped a hand around her arm and pulled down to sit again. "Uncle Rick has nothing to do with my decision. I want to do this."

Patricia held his gaze with her own until she felt her eyes filling with tears and she looked away, pressing her palm to her mouth.

"Mom, I'm going to be okay," Justin promised, sinking to his knees in front of her chair.

"This is what you want to do? Are you sure?" Patricia murmured, wiping a tear from her cheek.

"Yes, I've been thinking about it for years and dad—"

"You knew about this?" Patricia hissed at Eddie.

"Yacker, I know it's going to be scary to let him do this, but it is his decision," Eddie shrugged, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. "I'm proud of him, but that's probably just because I'm American and we're all so patriotic, you know?"

Patricia rolled her eyes, and then looked at Justin again. "Oh, God," she scoffed at herself, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly.

"I love you," Justin whispered into her hair.

"I love you, too," she replied, kissing his forehead as she pulled away from their embrace. She carded a hand through his dirty blond hair and rested their foreheads together for a moment as she collected her thoughts. "I'm so proud of you," she said finally.

Justin smiled, kissing her cheek. "Thank you."

Patricia watched him leave the room silently and then stood up, walking around the counter to tug on Eddie's shoulder until he turned around, and she walked into his arms.

"You've got to have faith in him, Patricia," he told her softly, winding his arms tightly around her back.

"I know," she sighed, one of her hands stroking the back of his head. "I do. He's a Miller. He'll be just fine."

* * *

"Smooth move, bro," Josh snickered after Danny Zuko had elbowed Sandy Olsson in the chest on Simon's laptop.

Simon giggled, hooking his right leg over Josh's left.

"You know, my old school's drama class is doing _Grease_ this year. My friend Danni is Sandy and her ex is Danny."

"Oof," Simon grunted.

Josh chuckled, returning his attention to the movie. "Oh, Sandy," he mocked Zuko with an obnoxiously deep voice.

Simon covered his mouth in attempt to quiet his laugh.

Josh grinned and moved to straddle Simon's thighs. "Oh, Simon, you hurt me real bad, you know it's true. But you gotta believe me when I say—"

"What are you doing?" Simon giggled again, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Love has flown all alone. I sit, I wonder why, oh why, oh why?" Josh sang.

Simon's next question was cut off by Josh's lips against his own. Josh's surprised yelp was swallowed by Simon when Josh's hand had slid down from Simon's chest to his waistband and Simon suddenly flipped them over, pinning Josh to the bed. Josh arched his neck as Simon trailed from his lips to his jaw, and a groan escaped him when Simon nipped at his the base of his neck.

"Pudding Pop," Simon murmured.

Josh moaned in slight annoyance at the pet name, blood rushing to his cheeks, and he hummed slightly in response.

"Are you ticklish?"

Josh's eyes shot open when Simon's hands started squeezing his sides. "Oh, no, don't do that!" He laughed, wiggling under Simon. He attempted to push Simon off his hips but his actions were cut off as he burst out laughing again, Simon giggling into his neck. "Knock it off, Si!"

Simon stopped and sat back on his thighs. "Fine. If you want to be boring."

"Hey," Josh panted. "Do you want to go home with me when I go back for the play?"

Simon shook his head sadly. "It's my mum's birthday that weekend, remember?"

"Oh, that's right," Josh sighed. "Well, next time, then?"

"I'll think about it," Simon promised, and then started tickling Josh again.

"Stop it!" Josh cackled.

Simon didn't stop until Josh bit his collar bone angrily and he shuddered. "Shit."

Josh pulled back with wide eyes and Simon blushed a little. "That's the first time I've ever heard you swear, I think."

"I only swear when I'm really mad or—"

"Really turned on," Josh finished knowingly, smiling mischievously. "Let's see what other words I can get out of you."

* * *

**RDJ posts way too many selfies on Instagram. xD Not that I'm complaining.**

**"Heart's on fire tonight, feel my bones ignite! Feels like war, feels like war. One more time! We go together or we don't go down at all (we go together or we don't go down at all), we go together or we don't go down at all (don't go down at all). Is this the end of us, or just the means to start again?" -A Love Like War, All Time Low feat. Vic Fuentes**

**-Rachel**


	16. Chapter 16

**Saturdays are really really good days for me. I've got the next two chapters finished and I'm finishing up the next. :) I've written over 5000 words in the last two days! **

**If anyone's got a Trivia Crack account, look me up (cause I'm obsessed and my brother stops playing on his phone when he needs to charge it): pageslearntothink!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"So, Louisa. Heard you were pregnant."

Louisa looked over her shoulder at Kim, a girl from her French class, followed by a couple of her friends. She didn't reply because Kim started talking again.

"And with who's baby? I could go through a whole list of guys you've dated. Was it Jason? Or maybe it was Scott. No, what about Drake? Wait, it's Ryan. He's almost as slutty as you." Kim sneered.

Louisa knew why she was doing this. Kim dated Peter once. She must have found out that he got over her a lot sooner than she had gotten over him. However, the way she was acting, Louisa doubted she was getting over Peter at all. "Look, Kim—"

"It must be so awful for you. Going through all this alone. Without the father. Because he doesn't want to ruin his life by spending it with you and your little—"

And then Danni stepped in between them with a sickly sweet smile that Louisa knew was faker than Kim's strawberry-blonde hair color. "Hey, Kim, I don't think you want your extensions getting caught in my rings, right?" She asked, holding up her left hand and flashing the two large rings she was wearing. "I mean they're new and your head might bleed. It'd be kind of gross."

Kim scoffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder, and strutted away from them.

"Thanks, Dan," Louisa breathed.

"You okay?" Danni asked quietly, allowing Louisa to pull her in for a tight hug.

"Yeah, I'm fine. What's up?"

"I needed to tell someone that I won't be at the coffee shop later because I'm going to be getting ice cream with Justin." Danni shrugged, fiddling with the zipper on her leather jacket. "Big bro's got something to tell me. Apparently it's really important and I'm the last person to know."

"That must make you feel so special." Louisa teased, linking their arms.

"You know, it really does."

* * *

"What did you do?" Danni asked accusingly, poking at her ice cream sundae. "You bought me ice cream and your arm is around my shoulders and you asked me how I'm doing. You either want something or you're dying."

Justin chuckled. "I can't just talk to my sister without being suspected of wanting something or dying?"

"I guess any normal person could, but you? Nah. What's going on? Hit me, slick."

Justin's arm fell from her shoulders when she came to a halt and turned to him fully in the almost empty parking lot of the bank they were strolling past on their walk through town.

Justin took a sip from his malt and shrugged. "Alright, I was going to build up to it for suspense and crap, but…"

Danni cocked a dark eyebrow, sucking in her cheeks impatiently as she stirred her sundae, mixing the ice cream and toppings together.

"I'm going to join the military."

"U.S., right?" She murmured, scooping a spoonful of ice cream large enough to give herself a brain freeze before dumping the rest of it in a nearby trashcan.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Justin questioned.

"I'm just not surprised," she shrugged. "You never really wanted to do anything growing up, but you always loved playing army men with dad and watching war movies. It was just something that always seemed to be a part of you. Even if it was barely visible to some people, I always noticed it."

Justin smiled a little and nodded his head. "Yep, so, right out of school—right after graduation—I'm flying to America. Illinois to be specific."

"Did mom cry?"

"A little."

"I knew it." Danni nodded, but she looked like she understood. "What are you going to be doing? Navy? Air Force? Marines?"

"Navy SEALs," Justin replied, winding his arm around her shoulders again and they continued walking. She took his malt from him as he explained, "Sea, Air, and Land teams. Basically I'll be training for almost three years and then I'll be deployed somewhere. Probably Afghanistan. When I decided to join the military, dad and I talked about it for a while and when we asked for suggestions of what I should look into, the SEALs kept coming up. It's supposed to be brutal training with a dropout rate of over 90 percent."

"Oh my, God, are you serious?"

"I can handle it."

"I know you can." Danni smiled up at him, hugging him with an arm around his lower back.

"So you're not upset or worried?"

"I think it's cool, but yeah," she scuffed the heel of her boot against the pavement. "Just promise that you'll always come back home."

"I promise."

* * *

Jackson rolled onto his side, pale blue eyes fitting over Jenna as she lay panting beside him. She giggled when he pinched her hip and batted his hand away.

"Stop it," she said. "I'm ticklish."

"I know," he smiled.

His bedroom fell into silence again as they rested there, relaxing into his mattress, wrapped in sheets. Until Jackson broke that comfortable feeling by uttering three words that he hadn't meant to say.

Jenna got up quickly, gathering up her clothes and putting them on haphazardly.

"Wait, Jen, I'm sorry. Listen—" Jackson sighed, pulling on a pair of boxers and following her out of his bedroom.

"We had rules, Jacks, now we have to call this whole thing off. You just ruined it. Don't follow me. Don't call me." She hollered, jogging down the stairs and leaving the house.

"Smooth, Jackson," he mumbled, thumping his forehead against the hallway wall.

* * *

**"Please, don't ever let me be, I only wanna be by your side. Please, don't ever let me be, I only wanna be by your side. Girl, you really got me now, you got me so I don't know what I'm doing, yeah. Oh, yeah, you really got me now, you got me so I can't sleep at night." -You Really Got Me, Van Halen**

**-Rachel**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey! ****Enjoy! **

* * *

"Josh!" Louisa exclaimed in surprise, rushing to hug her brother when he walked into the school's theater. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I'd come see rehearsal. I'm here for opening night, remember?" Josh grinned, letting her pull him to their friends. Sarah shot up immediately to hug him tightly and Jacob and Leo called out their greetings with a couple pats on his shoulders. Josh turned to the stage where the cast was singing. "Practicing _Summer Nights_?"

"Yep," Louisa nodded once and then smiled slyly, poking his shoulder. "You're going to love Eric as Danny. He plays him so well."

"He really gets into his character, right?" Josh said, focusing his attention on Danni on the left side of the stage as he sat in one of the theater chairs.

"_It got cold and that's where it ends…"_

"Can he hold the note?" Josh asked.

"_So I told her we'd still be friends…" _Eric sang, walking away from the casted _T Birds_ and toward the right side of the stage.

"Just like Travolta." Sarah replied.

Josh watched eagerly, leaning back in his seat.

"_Then we made our true love vow…"_

"_Wonder what she's doing now…"_

"_Summer dreams ripped at the seams, but, oh, those summer nights!" _

"Oh, damn," Josh chuckled, "that was hot."

Louisa laughed, pushing his shoulder as he stood up.

"Hey, Dan," he hollered, jogging up to the edge of the stage.

"Joshua Clarke! What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded jokingly, making her way off the stage so she could hug him.

"I came back for you," he smirked.

"Oh, shut up," she laughed.

"Hey, Josh, welcome home," Fiona called from the stage.

He saluted her and turned back to Danni. "You make a fantastic Sandy. I am quite impressed."

"Just wait until you see the whole thing. It's amazing," she jerked her thumb back at the stage, silently letting him know that she had to get back to work, and hurried back to Fiona.

"We're going to get coffee after rehearsal," Jacob told him. "You coming?"

"I've got nothing better to do," Josh shrugged.

* * *

"You'll like Simon," Josh said, lifting his coffee to his thin lips.

"I'm sure," Louisa nodded with a small smile. "Is he cute?"

"In a nerdy sort of way, yeah."

"Oh my, gosh, does he wear glasses?"

Josh laughed. "Okay, yes, Louisa, it's been confirmed that three out of six Clarke men like their significant others in glasses."

Laughter sounded around the table.

"So when's the baby due?"

"She shouldn't be here for another couple of weeks," Louisa replied, taking a bite of a cinnamon roll.

"She?" Josh repeated. "_She_? I've been here for what, an hour? And you've just now told me that the baby's a _she_?"

Louisa giggled a little. "I didn't think you'd care so much."

"Of course I care! This is my _niece_ we're talking about here. I'm going to be the best uncle ever. I'm gay so I'm automatically better than everyone else."

"What's makes you so sure you're better than us?" Fiona scoffed.

"Everyone loves me. Guys love me because I like guys and girls love me because I like guys. And if they don't love me, they're jealous that I get more action than they do."

"Maybe that's why Peter Connery hates you. You get more action than he does." Leo pointed out.

"I think he's closeted." Josh murmured thoughtfully.

"What makes you think that?" Sarah asked.

"The denial phase. Although his denial phase has been going on for a long time. And then he dated you." Josh raised his eyebrows at his twin.

"How long are you going to hold that against me?" Louisa huffed.

"I'm not," he chuckled, waving off her annoyed glare. "Where's Danni?"

"Now you ask? She didn't leave with us," Jacob said.

"She's doing some extra rehearsing with Eric, I think." Fiona answered.

* * *

Danni huffed and rolled her eyes. "Would you focus, you idiot?"

Eric chuckled, rolling his script into a tube and tapping the end against his chin. "Sorry, where were we?"

"Sandy changed for Danny,"she reminded.

"Oh, right," he nodded and then smirked at her. "Do you know the lyrics to _You're The One That I Want _yet?"

"Of course I do. I learned the lyrics to that song when I was seven."

"We've got this scene down anyway, why don't we rehearse the song?"

"You laugh every time you say Danny's line, _Sandy!" _she teased him, finishing her sentence in an obnoxiously deep voice.

"That's only because I can't wait to do the dress rehearsal. It's gonna be great."

Danni ignored him and flipped through her script to distract herself from his gaze.

He sighed, pressing play on a stereo set at the edge of the stage, and shrugged out of his leather jacket. "_I got chills, they're multiplying, and I'm losing control! 'Cause the power you're supplying, it's electrifying!" _

Danni stared at him blankly for a second, partially surprised that he started singing the song and then he grinned at her.

"I thought you knew the lyrics?"

"_You better shape up, 'cause I need a man and my heart is set on you." _When she felt like he was getting to close to her, she placed a hand on his shoulder, pushing him back._ "You better shape up, you better understand, to my heart I must be true."_

"_Nothing left, nothing left for me to do." _He continued.

"_You're the one that I want, you're the one that I want. Oo-oo-oo, honey! You're the one that I want, you're the one that I want. Oo-oo-oo, honey! You're the one that I want, you're the one that I want. Oo-oo-oo, honey! The one that I need, oh, yes indeed."_

Danni refused to look at Eric as she left him standing in the middle of the stage and headed toward the old car that was stored with the rest of the props backstage. She knew that he was getting into the music; he always became his character when he was acting, and he was really good at it. "_If you're filled with affection, you're too shy to convey. Better take my direction, feel your way…"_

Eric reached for her as she slid around to the front of the car. _"I better shape up, 'cause you need a man—"_

"_I need a man, who can keep me satisfied."_

"_I better shape up, if I'm gonna prove—"_

"_You better prove that my faith is justified."_

"_Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure down deep inside." _

Suddenly, Eric grabbed her wrist and she whipped around, gripping that back of his neck and pulling his head down to hers. Danni's heart skipped a beat when Eric made a surprised noise as he relaxed into the kiss, his hands landing on her hips. She broke the kiss with a deep breath and he let her name flow from his lips in a gentle whisper.

And then she was pushing away from him and rushing off of the stage before he had a chance to react.

* * *

**"Hey, darling, I hope you're good tonight. And I know you don't like when I'm leaving, yeah, I want it but no, I don't need it. Tell me something sweet to get me by, because I can't come back home till they're singing, 'la la la la la la la.'" -If It Means A Lot To You, A Day To Remember**

**-Rachel**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hey!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Danni breathed in deeply, marching up to Jessica standing at her locker and tapping her shoulder. "Jessica?"

"Oh, hi, Danni," Jessica smiled, turning to face her as she closed her locker. "What's up?"

"Can speak to you? Somewhere private?" She asked, guilt obvious on her features. She shifted her weight on either foot restlessly.

"Of course," Jessica shrugged, leading Danni into the girls' bathroom, which almost prompted Danni to roll her eyes, but she didn't.

Danni gnawed on her bottom lip for a second as Jessica walked to one of the sinks and began washing her hands. She met Jessica's eyes through the mirror over the sink and smiled awkwardly. "Look, I'm not really the best at talking about feelings and stuff. But I want to be completely honest with you here. So bear with me, 'kay?"

Jessica leaned back on the sink, giving Danni her undivided attention.

"I… Last night, Eric and I were rehearsing some Danny and Sandy scenes and we started practicing _You're The One That I Want_ and…long story short, we kissed." Danni took a step forward, waving her hands frantically as if she thought Jessica was going to start screaming at her. "But it was totally my fault. I kissed him. And I'm so sorry. I…I guess I just never got over him like I wanted to, but that's not the point. Don't be upset with him. Hate me for it. It was all my fault. And I dropped out of Grease—"

"You didn't have to do that," Jessica protested.

"No, trust me, I did. My brother's joining the military and my friends need me and I just don't have the time for all these rehearsals." Danni swallowed with a tight smile. "Congrats. You're going to make an amazing Sandy."

Jessica watched her leave the bathroom in shock.

* * *

"How are you feeling, momma?" Alex asked Lily, walking into the kitchen of their small house.

"I'm spectacular, babe. Nothing's wrong, everything's better, don't worry." She smiled, holding out a bowl of cookie dough.

He shook his head, refusing the batter and Lily planted her hands on her hips suspiciously giving him a once over.

"What's wrong? You never turn down cookie dough."

"I've got something to tell you." He mumbled, slipping a hand through his almost black hair.

"Did you get your ears pierced?"

Alex looked up at her, reaching a hand up to one of his ears, pulling a little at the black stud earring, and then laughed a little. "Oh, yeah, I needed a change. I like them."

Lily shrugged her small shoulders. "Hmm."

"Anyway, I needed to tell you that—"

"You and Josh broke up. I know."

Alex shook his head, biting his lower lip when he felt his eyes begin to burn from unwanted tears. "No, mom, that's not it. I…did something to get you your surgery."

Lily blinked. "What did you do?"

"I broke Josh's heart so that your name would be bumped up on the list." He said quietly, hanging his head.

At her sharp intake of breath, he looked at her again. "I wasn't the next person on that list? I got the surgery done because you ruined your relationship with someone that made you happy? I bet it's illegal to tamper with those lists. Alexander!"

"I'm not sorry." He said forcefully. "I couldn't lose you. Losing Josh was a…very large price to pay, but the point is that you're okay now."

"There are other people on that list that can't get that surgery and have more to lose than you do." Lily scolded. "Did you do that for me or for you?"

"For both of us. We're all each other has."

"Alex…"

"It was all my fault. I had to fix it."

"And of course you wait until after the surgery to tell me because it can't be undone. There could be children losing one of their family members right now. Did you even think this through—?"

"Yes, yes, I did. I thought about it and I did what I had to do to keep you in my life. Momma, I can't lose you. I would do anything for you. I'm sorry I disappointed you, but I couldn't let you go."

Lily sighed sadly, pulling him in for a hug. "I suppose there's nothing we can do about it now. Except we're going to start doing charity work every week until I think you've made up for what you did."

Alex tearfully chuckled into her shoulder. "I can live with that."

* * *

"Hey, Jess, I need to tell you something." Eric sighed, pulling her legs up to lay over his lap. "Last night, I kissed Danni Miller."

Jessica opened her mouth to speak, but Eric held up his hand.

"I'm sorry. But it was all my fault. You know how I get; I become my character. I got wrapped up in the song and the emotion and I kissed her. Don't blame her, don't be mad at her; it was all me." Eric said, reaching out to lay his hand on the curve of her neck. "Can you forgive me?"

Jessica stood up with a small sigh. "Can I have some time to think?"

"Sure," he shot up to walk her to the front door of his house. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Jessica replied, smiling back at him as she left the house.

Eric closed the door when she drove away in her car and leaned back on the wood, rubbing a hand over his face.

* * *

**"Every year that goes by, a year older we are, you'll still be beautiful then, bless your beautiful heart. We'll talk and talk and talk, how crazy it seems, someone can waste their whole life helplessly. Just patiently waiting for a love like you and me." -All My Heart, Sleeping With Sirens**

**-Rachel**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hey!**

**I haven't been writing because reasons, but the next chapter is finished so...**

**And I know this is totally rushed. I'm so horrible at outlining and filling in plot gaps so that's why this is all so rushed. And literally only a few more chapters until this is finished. Maybe, one day, I'll rewrite this as an original story and it'll be so much better... ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"So maybe we can give this whole dating thing a shot?" Jenna said when Jackson opened the front door. He stepped out onto the porch and closed the door behind him as he slipped his into his front pockets. "I mean, we make a totally hot couple."

Jackson smiled. "Totally."

"And we know each other really well. Which means that dates shouldn't be too hard. Considering we went backwards with the whole dating thing."

"This doesn't mean that we're going to stop—"

"Oh no," Jenna denied quickly, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him a little. "That's too good to stop."

"Oh, thank God," Jackson mumbled, grabbing her face and pulling her face to his.

* * *

"Jess, where the hell are you? The show's starting in an hour—" Eric said into his cell phone.

"I'm sick," Jessica said simply, sounding completely healthy over the line. "I can't make it. So have Danni be Sandy, yeah?"

"Oh…okay, but—"

"And Eric? I'm breaking up with you."

Eric blinked. "What?"

"I can't be with you when I can see that you and Danni still have feelings for each other."

"But I—"

"I love you, too, but we are never going to work out while you still want to be with Danni," Jessica explained. "Break a leg, tiger, and don't let her get away again."

* * *

Danni crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow at Eric as he leaned back on the door of the classroom.

"Hey," he smiled.

"What do you want?" She demanded.

"Jessica called in sick at the last possible second. We need you to be Sandy."

"I dropped out of the play—"

"Because you're in love with me," he grinned.

Danni rolled her eyes and marched toward the door, but he didn't move away from it. "Fine, I'll be Sandy. Only because I'm the only other person that knows all of her lines. Can I leave now?"

"Why are you afraid to be with me?" Eric asked gently, brushing a strand of her curled hair over her shoulder.

"I'm not afraid."

"Yeah, you are. Why? Because I could leave again? Because I'm not going to." He told her.

Danni bit down on her tongue to prevent herself from talking and avoided his eyes.

"Danni, you're beautiful and intelligent and funny and strong and talented. And I love you." Eric breathed, gripping her shoulders. "Why don't you believe me? What's so bad about being with me? Why can't you just take a chance?"

Danni met his eyes angrily. "Because then you have the power to hurt me. I don't give that power out to just anyone. And when I gave it to you, you used it. You hurt me. And you're still hurting me! You'll never stop hurting me—"

"Give me a second chance. I won't do it again. I don't want to hurt you again. I made a mistake not telling you I left and I'm so sorry."

"You…" she whipped away from him and stalked toward the other side of the room. She sat on one of the desks and covered her eyes with the palms of her hands.

"You're scared of getting hurt, I get that."

"You don't understand—"

"But you have to take a chance."

"But taking chances scares me!"

Eric slid into the chair at the desk she was sitting on and leaned forward on his elbows. "Why?"

Danni didn't reply for several minutes. It seemed like she was ignoring him until she turned toward him a little. "Because then I'm vulnerable. Which makes it easier to get hurt. And I've had Fiona and Louisa and Sarah and my mother and my shrink all tell me the same thing: I feel with everything I have. If I get hurt, I'm falling. When I feel guilt, I'm being crushed by something. When I love someone, I'm drowning. I am drowning in what I feel for you and it scares me—"

"Because it's a chance and that makes you vulnerable." Eric finished. "I know what that feels like, Danni. I've taken that chance of making myself vulnerable quite a few times with you and what did that get me? A broken heart."

"I felt guilty about that," Danni stated softly.

"Danni?"

She looked down at him.

"I love you."

When he didn't say anything else, she shrugged. "And?"

"And I'll keep saying it until you say it back."

Danni fell silent.

"Stop avoiding it."

"I'm not avoiding it. I'm thinking."

"About what?"

"What happens if I do give you a second chance?"

"Then I do everything I can to prove to you that I won't hurt you."

"And what happens when you do?"

"_If_ I do. And I won't. But _if_ I do, I know you'll do the right thing. Probably kill me."

Danni put her hand on the back of his neck and leaned down until their lips met. "Don't make me regret this."

"I swear."

"Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

**The Danni and Eric scene was pretty good up until I started falling asleep. :/**

**"Hush, you color my eyes red. Your love's not alive, it's dead. This letter's written itself inside out again. When rivers turn to roads and lovers become trends, hush, this is where it ends." -Hush, Automatic Loveletter**

**-Rachel**


	20. Chapter 20

**7 more chapters!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"That's amazing, Danni." Louisa breathed into her cell phone. "I know it's hard, but I think you're going to be happy you made the decision to be with him again. He makes you really happy, when you two aren't at each other's throats."

"_Fiona's been hounding me for details of our date after the show the other night." _Danni mumbled.

"What else should one expect from Fiona Rutter?"

"_Good point. How are you doing?"_

"I'm great. I'm at the grocery store, picking up some ice cream."

"_Save me some!"_

"No, it's mine," Louisa hissed jokingly.

"_I'll see you later. Stay safe."_

"Back at you, babe," Louisa smiled, ending the call and making her way to the front of the store to check out.

As she stepped up to be the next checked out, she gasped, feeling a sharp pain in her stomach. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she swayed backwards, surprising the man standing behind her enough to drop his own groceries. He caught her as she fell and carefully lowered her down to the floor.

"Someone call an ambulance," he instructed quickly to the worried crowd that was growing around them. He lowered to his ear to her mouth, feeling her breath brush against his skin, and he placed a hand on her hot forehead.

* * *

Jerome jogged down the hospital hallway and grabbed onto Mara's arm when she walked out of a patient's room. "What's going on?"

"She's going to be fine. The contractions began and the surprise caused her to pass out. Everything's okay." His wife assured him, placing her hand over his. She motioned to the row of chairs against the wall where the man that had brought Louisa in was sitting. "Jerome, this is Luke Dillon, he took care of her until the ambulance got to the grocery store."

"Thank you, Mr. Dillon," Jerome nodded once, shaking Luke's hand when he stood up.

"It's no problem, I'm just glad she's okay. I actually just moved here, so today was much more eventful than I thought it'd be."

"Spent your first day here playing Good Samaritan. But really, I am very thankful for your help."

"Anyone would've done the same."

"Mum, dad, is Lou okay?" Alice questioned, rushing up to them with Gracie and Matty behind her, and Luke sat back down.

"Yeah, she'll be fine," Jerome replied.

"Mummy, is Louie having her baby?" Gracie asked in excitement.

"Yes, darling, she—" Mara stopped when Louisa cried out in pain from behind the door she stood in front of. "J, come with me."

They disappeared into the room and Alice, Gracie, and Matty sat down.

"Why are you here?" Gracie asked Luke, cocking her head curiously.

"Gracie, don't be rude," Alice hissed.

Luke smiled. "No, it's alright. Um, I brought your sister in. I'm just sticking around to…make sure she's okay, I guess."

"My m-mum said she w-w-will b-be," Matty stuttered, brushing a hand over his curls.

"Yeah, I know." He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

* * *

Louisa bit her bottom lip, tiredly watching the door to her hospital room for her mother, and when the door opened, she perked up. But it wasn't Mara who walked into the room, it was a man. He smiled at her, stopping at the foot of her bed.

"Your mum let me in. I'm Luke. I brought you here after you collapsed." He told her.

"Oh my, God, thank you so much," Louisa gushed. "I'm Louisa. But I'm sure my parents or someone already told you that."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Louisa. How are you feeling?"

"I'm…I'm great, thank you, Luke," she blushed a little under his gaze.

"I'm glad everything's okay."

"I'm sorry, but I've never seen you around here before. I mean at the grocery store or at the coffee shop."

"I just moved here from Birmingham, actually," Luke replied, pushing a hand through his short blond hair.

"Well, welcome to Liverpool," Louisa cocked her head. "My dad probably thanked you, but I'll tell you that if you need anything, you can give the Clarkes a call."

"I'll keep that in mind," Luke said with a slight nod. "I'm sure you'd like to see your family, so it was nice meeting you."

"You, too," she smiled breathlessly, watching him leave the room.

* * *

Louisa held her arms out for her daughter.

"Lou—" Jerome began.

"I want to keep her, daddy. You were right, meeting your child changes your mind." Louisa said, brushing a strand of her short hair out of her face. "I can get a job. I'll take care of her and take responsibility and be her mother. I can do this."

"It'll be hard."

"I can handle it."

"Once you make that decision, there's no going back."

"I want to keep her."

Jerome kissed her forehead. "If that's what you want."

Louisa took her baby from the nurse and smiled, stroking a finger down her chubby cheek. "Hi, there."

"Have you thought of a name?" A nurse asked, holding a clipboard and pen at the ready.

"Elizabeth Claire," Louisa answered immediately.

* * *

**"With the lights out, it's less dangerous. Here we are now, entertain us. I feel stupid and contagious. Here we are now, entertain us. A mulatto, an albino, a mosquito, my libido. Yeah, hey, yay..." -Smells Like Teen Spirit, Nirvana**

**-Rachel**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hurray! Another chapter! Sorry it took so long. I was trying to get past this chapter. I was a little stuck for a while.**

**I'm going to be at my neighbor's house all day, helping them fix it up for when they sell it, so I won't be replying to any reviews or anything for a while. :/ **

**I updated Strike a Match, Make It Last yesterday, and I appreciate that no one's reviewing (I'd feel like I was doing a good job if I got reviews) because it's horrible and I can't write zombie aus. :P But in the author's note, I stated that I am no longer going to be worried about the word count of my chapters; what matters is that I get a decent chapter to you guys. So if I chapter is less than 1000 words, so what? **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"I can't believe you did that," Josh chuckled, shaking his head as he sat in one of the chairs of the school lounge. "All I wanted was for you to come to Liverpool to meet my parents and next thing I knew, you were swallowing—"

Simon slapped a hand over Josh's mouth to silence his complaint as Haley and Rylan sat down with them.

"Oh, God, we don't need to know what Simon does to distract you." Rylan snorted, resting his arm on the back of the couch behind Haley's shoulders.

"Point is, you got out of that conversation really well," Josh smirked. "I will get you to meet my parents one day. Mark my words."

Haley cocked her head, blinking at Josh.

"When are you leaving again?" Simon asked.

"Trying to get rid of me?"

"N-no!"

Josh grinned and he leaned forward, pecking Simon's cheek. "In a couple minutes. I just have to wait for Michael and Em to get here."

Haley smiled sweetly, tapping Simon's arm with the tips of her fingers. "Could I speak to you for a moment?"

Her cousin opened his mouth to reply.

"Now."

"I—"

"Shut up," She ordered, her hand clasping around his wrist and pulling him to the other side of the room. "What are you doing?"

Simon bit the inside of his cheek and avoided her piercing gaze.

"Look at me."

"Your contacts kind of freak me out. You know how I am about cats. I'm allergic and they're creepy." Simon shuddered and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"You haven't told Josh yet?"

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because I don't like goodbyes. I hate goodbyes."

"Don't make it a goodbye then. Just au revoir."

"That's the same thing just in French." Simon stated in a monotone.

Haley huffed, flicking her hair over her shoulder and then grabbing Simon's shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eye. "Simon, he deserves to know."

"But I can't tell him. And don't you tell him. Or Rylan. I'll tell him just not—"

"When he's here. You're going to wait until he's gone to tell him. Nice, Si. I didn't know you could be so stupid." Haley brushed past him and sat in his place beside Josh. "I'll see you when you get back, Josh."

Josh returned her hug with one arm and watched her drag Rylan out of the room. "What's up with her? She looks really mad."

"She's fine," Simon mumbled, reaching his hand out to Josh.

Josh shot up when a car honked outside. "That's Mike. I'll see you when I get back."

"Wait, Josh?"

Josh turned around before he left the room and raised his eyebrows.

"Can I have a kiss?" His boyfriend asked after a split-second of silence between them.

"Sure…" Josh walked back over to him and cupped the back of Simon's neck, stopping inches away from them. "On second thought. No. I'm not going to."

"What?" Simon stuttered.

"I'm not going to kiss you. Just so you'll want me even more when I get back." Josh grinned, squeezing Simon's neck. "Call me."

"I will," Simon mumbled, watching him leave the room, swallowing the lump in his throat.

* * *

…_I scream, accept defeat, I knew this day would come. I wipe myself from the floor, one last trek for the door, I tell myself one day I'll know what this is for…_

"His earbuds are going to explode if he plays his music any louder," Michael said, turning the car onto the highway, casting a look back at Josh sitting in the backseat, eyes closed as he listened to music.

"You're starting to sound old, Clarke," Emily joked. "Can't handle loud music anymore?"

"Oh, God, that's not good," Michael chuckled. "Nah, it's fine. He's fine."

"I need your opinion on something," Emily said after a moment of silence.

"Shoot."

"I want to visit my dad."

Michael took a deep breath, glancing at her out of the corner of his blue eyes. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I want to talk to him. Do you think I should talk to him?"

"You can do whatever you want, darling. I just…"

"And I want you to come with me," she added.

Michael's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "That's definitely not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Because I hate him for hurting you. It's probably not best for me to be in the same room as him."

"I need your support though. Everything will be okay. You can keep yourself in check, and I'll be there as back up. If something goes wrong, we can leave." Emily put her hand on Michael's arm. "Please? For me?"

With a strained laugh, Michael met her eyes. "I…fine."

Emily smiled lovingly. "Thank you so much, Michael. I love you."

Michael's lips twitched into a smile. "I love you, too."

* * *

**My dad and I are watching _The X Files _every night and I just love the show. xD I'm also watching _White Collar_. And _T__otal Drama Island_. I'm inspired by them, and I'm trying so hard not to write parodies of all three. But if I did. It'd be Jalex. xP **

**Alex would be Mulder and Josh would be Skully.**

**And Alex would be Agent Burke and Josh would be Caffrey.**

**And all the kids would be on Total Drama Island.**

**Oh well.**

**"This became a part of me, your blood is in my veins, once incomplete. Promise to have faith in me, retrace your steps you'll always find me. I found you, one foot out the window pane, I'm never too far out of reach, escape." -Forevermore, Picture Me Broken**

**-Rachel**


	22. Chapter 22

**HAVE YOU CRIED TODAY?**

**No?**

**WELL THEN GO WATCH THE VIDEO THATS LINKED ON MY PROFILE BECAUSE ITS BEAUTIFUL AND HEARTBREAKING AND PERFECT AND UGH. **

**Seriously, though. Juliet Simms' music video for _End of the World_ is *0***

**I won't give you guys a reason as to why I've been gone.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Where is she?" Josh asked when he walked through the front door of the house.

"She's sleeping," Louisa replied, hugging him tightly.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm sorry," she giggled.

Josh shrugged, moving to hug Mara as well. "How's everything going?"

"Great, how are you?"

Josh hopped up onto the kitchen counter. "Pretty good. I tried to convince Simon to come out but he felt like he'd be intruding."

"We would love having him over." Jerome said.

"That's what I told him. I think it's just nerves. Meeting the parents can be kind of nerve-wracking." Josh pulled his phone out of his jeans when it started vibrating in his front pocket. "Maybe he changed his mind." He joked, sliding off the counter and walking out into the dining room. "Hey, Si, miss me already?"

"_I'm so sorry, Josh."_ Simon whispered into the phone.

"What's wrong?" Josh asked worriedly, eyebrows furrowing.

"_I wasn't completely honest with you. I told you that I didn't want to come out because I was worried I'd be imposing. Well, I wasn't exactly nervous. I just couldn't come."_

"Why not?"

Simon was silent long enough to make Josh think that he had hung up. _"I'm moving to New York. My dad got transferred. I won't be here when you get back."_

Josh swiped a hand through his hair angrily, swallowing thickly. "Why didn't you tell me before?"

"_Because I hate goodbyes. I didn't want to say goodbye to you. I didn't want to leave."_ Simon groaned. _"I hate myself. I was so stupid. I should've told you a long time ago. I'm sorry."_

"Yeah, you should have," Josh mumbled, walking out into the foyer.

"_Do you hate me?"_

"No," Josh replied, scraping the heels of his sneakers against the floor. "I just wish I would've kissed you."

Simon choked out a chuckle, making it obvious that he was crying, which made Josh feel less embarrassed about the tears in his own eyes. _"Me, too."_

"I'm assuming we're not going to try long distance?"

"_We both know we wouldn't last long distance, Pudding Pop."_

Josh walked into a corner and leaned his forehead against the wall. He scoffed. "I love you. It seems I wait too long to say it no matter who I'm with."

"_I love you, too, Josh."_

"Maybe you could save me a kiss? We'll see each other again if it's meant to be, right?"

Simon giggled. _"If it's meant to be, and we do run into each other again, I promise that my lips are all yours."_

Josh breathed out a laugh.

"_Thanks for giving me some pretty terrific memories."_ Simon said softly.

"Thanks for fixing my heart."

Simon hung up without another word and Josh brushed a tear off his cheek as he turned away from the corner, walking back into the kitchen. "He didn't change his mind."

* * *

Louisa rushed down the steps to the foyer and stopped in the doorway of the living room where Mara was gently rubbing circles on Josh's back. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Simon and I just broke up." Josh shrugged.

Louisa's tense shoulders drooped. "Oh, God, I'm sorry, Josh."

Josh shook his head. "Are you okay?"

"Um, Elizabeth's coughing and wheezing, mum, what's wrong? What do I do?" Louisa demanded urgently, panic clouding her face.

"First, darling, you need to be calm, okay?" Mara said, squeezing Louisa's shoulder as she walked past her. "Let's go see what's up. I'm sure everything's just fine."

Josh followed his mother and sister up to the second floor and peeked over the edge of the crib at his niece. "God, LouLou, she's gorgeous."

"Isn't she though?" Louisa gushed, lifting Elizabeth out of the crib.

Mara gently examined Elizabeth, feeling her chest and throat. "Hmm," she hummed, "I'll have to run a test… I don't think there's anything seriously wrong with her, besides her shortage of breath. It could just be a cold with her coughing, and she keeps rubbing her eyes. I'll look over her at the hospital just to be sure."

Louisa nodded in understanding.

* * *

Josh held Elizabeth in his lap, softly brushing his thumbs over her shoulders. "Hey, there, El. I'm Josh, your _favorite _uncle."

"Is the emphasis necessary?" Louisa giggled.

"I'm hoping her first words will be 'favorite uncle.'" Josh said seriously.

Louisa snorted in amusement.

"I'm glad you decided to keep her."

Louisa smiled. "So am I."

Josh pressed a kiss to Elizabeth's forehead.

"I'm sorry about Simon. I really wanted to meet him, you know." Louisa spoke up after a beat of silence."

Josh took a deep breath. "He wanted to meet all of you too. It was just time to end it. We didn't want to take a chance at ruining our relationship with the distance."

Louisa rested her head on Josh's shoulder tiredly. "There will be other guys."

Josh chuckled. "I know. I'm going to be single again though. It's been awhile."

Before Louisa could reply, Mara walked back into the room. "Well, she's perfectly healthy except for one small thing."

Louisa sat up straighter.

"She has several allergies. Most of them are trees, but she's _highly_ allergic to cats."

Josh's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "Oof."

"I have to get rid of Ozzy?" Louisa asked sadly.

"That would be the best thing for Elizabeth, darling. I'm sorry." Mara swept a strand of her dark brown hair behind her ear.

Josh looked at Louisa, cradling Elizabeth in his arms. "You know, you could give him to—"

"Alex." Louisa finished knowingly.

* * *

**"I'll carry you, my darkest desire, when life sings to you through devil's choirs. F.E.A.R won't steal what burns in you. I'll carry you away from the fire. My desire, devil's choirs, my desire, devil's choirs..." -Devil's Choir, Black Veil Brides**

**-Rachel**


	23. Chapter 23

**I'm afraid that this lady, who's a friend of my dad's, is going to try and set me up with her grandson. X(**

**Who's ready to see some more of Luke from chapter 20? He's a nice guy, don't worry. ;)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"He's got blond hair, um," Louisa snapped her fingers thoughtfully as she walked down the school hallway, flanked by Fiona and Danni. "It's like brushed back…"

"Like your dad's?" Fiona asked.

"No, not exactly. His hairline is pushed back—he's got a pretty high forehead. You know that guy on YouTube? PelleK? Like that, only his hairline isn't so far back."

"Eyes?" Danni questioned, pushing past a student that was taking too long to move out of her way so she could keep up with her friends.

"A pale blue in the hospital room lighting," Louisa cocked her head to the side, remembering Luke standing at the end of her hospital bed.

"Facial structure?" Fiona spoke up again.

"Well-defined cheekbones."

"High cheekbones?"

"No, he's got a thin face so they stand out more."

"Healthy?" Danni rolled her sweater sleeves up to her elbows.

"From what I could tell through that leather jacket: very." Louisa giggled.

"He's sounds beautiful," Fiona sighed dreamily.

"And he's so sweet and polite."

"He sounds perfect for you." Danni winked.

"Now I just need to find—" Louisa gasped, backing away from the History classroom's doorway and grabbing her friends' arms, pulling them along with her. "Oh my, God."

"Is he in there?"

"Yes," Louisa hissed, dragging a hand through her hair in slight frustration. "Damn."

"Where is he?" Fiona asked excitedly, poking her head into the room. "He must be a new student."

"His name is Luke. Luke…Dillon." Louisa mumbled.

Danni's jade green eyes widened in shock. "Mr. Dillon is our substitute—"

"I know!" Louisa burst. "Oh my, God. This is not happening to me! I can't have a crush on our teacher! Especially since I really like him. Fiona, tell me what to do."

"I have no idea, honey, but we've got to get a move on. Class is about to start." Fiona linked arms with her, hoping to comfort her silently, and they moved to sit in the front of the class.

"Good morning, guys, I'm Luke Dillon, you're substitute," Luke smiled brightly from the front of the classroom, "while Mr. Peterson is temporarily disabled due to surgery on one of his legs. You can call me Luke before and after class, but during, I'm Mr. Dillon. Does anyone have any questions before we begin?"

"Are you single?" A girl in the back row asked blatantly.

Luke chuckled. He stood behind the desk and slipped a pair of rectangular glasses with blue frames onto his face. "Let's keep our personal lives out of the classroom, alright?" He pushed his bangs out of his face with a fluent swipe of his hand and then clasped his hands together behind himself. "Let's begin."

* * *

"Oh, Louisa," Luke said, grabbing her attention as she was headed for the door of the classroom.

Louisa stopped and turned to him. "Yes, Mr. Dillon?"

"How's the baby…?"

"Elizabeth," Louisa offered.

"Beautiful," Luke smiled. "How is she?"

Louisa bit down on her bottom lip gently for a split second. "She's great, thank you."

"And you?"

"I'm fine. My brothers are visiting from London so I get to see them again for a few days. Um," Louisa swallowed. "How are you? How's moving and everything?"

"Still getting to know the city and I stupidly got lost on the way to my own apartment building yesterday." Luke chuckled, shrugging a shoulder.

Louisa giggled.

Luke watched her silently with a small smile and took a second too long to speak again. "Uh, I'll let you get to your next class. It was great seeing you again. I'm glad everything's going well."

"Have a nice day, Mr. Dillon." Louisa said quickly, rushing out of the room and running into Fiona and Danni.

"What's up, babe?" Danni asked.

"I'm in trouble." Louisa stated.

* * *

Alex blinked in surprise when he opened the front door and then he smiled a little. "Louisa. You know, this whole time, I've been waiting for you to show up at my door. You want to decapitate me, right? I've got a shovel in the back that's perfect—"

Louisa rolled her eyes. "I actually need you alive for the moment."

Alex titled his head to the side, giving her a calculating look. "What for?"

"My daughter, Elizabeth, is allergic to cats," she bent down and lifted the cat cage up for Alex to see, "and you're the only person I know that loves Ozzy as much as I do."

Alex stared at her in shock, taking the cage when she pushed it into his chest. Ozzy meowed anxiously from inside of it.

Louisa motioned to the bags and boxes she had set out next to the door. "Here's all of his stuff. Take good care of him for me, yeah?"

"You got it," Alex grinned. "Thanks, Louisa."

Louisa shrugged awkwardly.

"But you know I'm going to change his name to Snowball, right?"

"I don't expect anything less."

Alex set the cage down in the house and called Louisa's name as she was headed back down to Mara's car. "Louisa, could you do me a favor?"

Louisa turned to him.

"Say 'hi' to Josh for me? And um…that I'm glad that he's happy with that guy from London. That's all I want: for him to be happy, you know?"

Louisa almost told Alex what had happened between Simon and Josh, but thought better of it. "Yeah, I'll tell him."

Alex nodded, bounding back into his house and opening his cat's cage. "Hello, Snowball, welcome to your new home."

* * *

**"Oh, lights go down, in the moment, we're lost and found. I just wanna be by your side, if these wings could fly. Oh, damn these walls, in the moment, we're ten feet tall. And how you told me after it all, we'd remember tonight, for the rest of our lives." -Wings, Birdy**

**-Rachel**


	24. Chapter 24

**3 more chapters... O-O**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Louisa's cheeks darkened a little when her eyes met Luke's as she walked up to the counter in the coffee shop.

"Good morning, Louisa," Luke smiled.

"Good morning," she breathed, forcing herself to pay attention to ordering her coffee. She dug around in her purse, her cheeks growing hotter by the second as she searched for her wallet. She cursed herself in her head.

"Here, I've got it," Luke offered, handing the woman behind the counter his credit card.

"Thank you," Louisa murmured in embarrassment.

"It's not a problem," Luke assured her, motioning to a table in the corner when they got their drinks. "Sit with me?"

Louisa didn't give it a second thought.

"So how have you been since Monday? You've been in quite the hurry to leave the room, I never get to ask you." Luke said, wetting his thin lips with a flick of his tongue.

"School has me swamped so I don't really have time to hang out after classes. But I've been pretty good. I actually had to give my cat away though because Elizabeth's allergic." She shrugged sadly.

"Giving up a pet is never easy."

Louisa sighed. "I hope the guy that I gave him to will let me visit him."

"Why wouldn't he?" Luke asked.

"He's my twin brother's ex. He and I never really got along." Louisa sipped her latte thoughtfully. "But now that they're broken up, I can see that he's actually a pretty good guy. Maybe if I ask nicely."

"No one can turn away kindness," Luke said simply, stirring his coffee.

"So if you don't mind me wondering, I don't want to sound rude, but you look very young for a teacher." Louisa asked quietly.

Luke smiled a little. "I haven't been a teacher for long. I got my degree about a year and half ago. I'm twenty-four. I graduated from high school but then I spent about a year doing things I was raised not to do and when I finally got my act together, I realized that I didn't have anything to do. And those that can't do, teach. And those that can't teach, teach gym."

Louisa giggled.

Luke shook his head at himself. "I'm sorry that was mean."

"No, it was funny." Louisa calmed her giggles and cleared her throat. "Why did you pick history?"

"My grandparents raised me, and they owned this antiques, knick-knacks kind of shop. The sort of place that people just dumped the things they didn't want, like they thought it was junk, but my grandparents always found a way to make it important. Everything had a story. The place was filled with this stuff from all around the world. So I was raised learning about the history of the whole world through little trinkets. History was always my favorite subject in school."

Louisa smiled. "Do you like traveling?"

"Actually Liverpool is the only place I've been since Birmingham. I would love to travel some day when I have the money."

"My whole family traveled for my entire life until we settled down here. My brother and I were actually born in Paris."

"Really?"

"But I don't remember it. We moved again while we were just a couple months old. I'd love to visit it again one day."

"Elizabeth doesn't get in the way of that dream?"

"I'm sure she would love Paris."

Luke chuckled.

* * *

"Dating was a really good idea," Jackson murmured, stroking Jenna's shoulders with the tips of his fingers as they sat on the sofa in the Lewis' living room.

Before Jenna could reply, the back door opened, and Justin called out, "Hey, Jen, you here?"

Jenna and Jackson jumped apart, sinking into either sides of the couch, and facing the kitchen doorway. Justin froze when he saw them and then chuckled.

"Hey. You guys okay?" He asked, eyeing them warily.

"Yep, great, how are you?" Jenna asked.

"Fine. I've been packing and stuff lately. And I haven't seen you in ages. What's going on?" Justin sat on the coffee table. "Is this your mom's fudge?"

Jenna watched him pop a square into his mouth and chew slowly, savoring the taste. She looked over at Jackson and his eyes widened worriedly. "Actually, we wanted to talk to you."

Justin plucked another square of fudge from the plate, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"Jackson and I are dating."

Justin met her eyes and then Jackson's and shrugged indifferently. "Okay. What, did you think I'd be upset about that? You had to use fudge to keep me from reacting negatively? If you were messing around behind my back, then, yeah, I'd be pissed." He stared at Jackson steadily. "But you're dating, so you're safe. Unless you hurt her, and then I'll kill you."

Jackson nodded in understanding.

"Can I have the rest of this fudge?" Justin asked.

"Absolutely," Jenna smiled.

"It's all yours, mate," Jackson said.

Justin winked at Jenna, picked up the plate, and left the house through the front door without another word.

* * *

"It's just not the same around here without you, mate," Leo sighed, leaning to the left on Josh's bed as he steered Koopa Troopa's little motorcycle away from the water washing up onto the beach.

Josh smiled a little. "I've just got to finish the semester at school in London and then I'll be back."

Leo cast a quick glance in his best friend's direction. "You're coming back to finish school here?"

Josh jerked his Wii remote, Donkey Kong flipping off the little ramp and zooming a few feet ahead of Leo's character in response. "I went to London to run away from Alex. It was a way out of something I didn't want to deal with. Granted, I learned a lot about video games and I made some new friends and got a pretty great boyfriend, but I moved there for all the wrong reasons. Now, that pretty great boyfriend is my ex-boyfriend and has moved and the game designing course is going to be cancelled for next year because there weren't enough students signing up for it. Might as well come back home. Besides, I miss all of you, too."

"Everyone will graduate together," Leo realized.

"Louisa will love that. She always wanted us to graduate together. Being twins and all." Josh dropped his controller into his lap when the race ended and he stretched out on his beanbag chair.

"Can't wait to have you back for good, dude," Leo grinned.

* * *

**"It's like I'm torn, ripped down the middle. Maybe I'm crazy, not a lot, just a little, just a little bit. Whoa! Follow the lights, that's how it goes, but what about the shadows? They hide the secrets that no one knows. I'm feeling scared for what I see, giving it all, trusting me. So I'll just breathe, in a world of sin, in a world of sunshine, I hide in the shadows, tonight." -In The Shadows Tonight, Megan &amp; Liz**

**-Rachel**


	25. Chapter 25

**Hey! 2 more chapters! ;-;**

**Someday I might clean up this series... Maybe make it an original series? The whole thing is kind of sloppy, so it sucks in a lot of ways, but I loved writing it. :)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Oh, you're still our friend even though Simon's gone?" Rylan scoffed, shifting his backpack on his right shoulder.

Josh smirked at him. "I was friends with you guys before he and I started dating."

Haley flicked Rylan's ear and rolled her eyes, the pizza emojis glinting under the light in the school hallway.

"Where do you get these contacts?" Josh asked with a chuckle.

"I know a girl," she shrugged, pulling a sketchbook out of her purse. "Here, Simon wanted me to give this to you. I know, he acted like he was dying and he needed to will this to you, but you know him."

"He just wanted me to have something to remember him by." Josh nodded, his lips twitching as he flipped the sketchbook open, the first sketch being one of his dog.

* * *

Danni kicked her feet up onto the desk next to her in the front row of seats in the History classroom.

"Are we allowed to hang out in here after school?" Sarah asked warily.

Danni waved her hand dismissively. "Of course. Louisa's boyfriend wouldn't mind—"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Louisa hissed.

"—and no one's coming in here anyway. We'll head over to the coffee shop in a few minutes."

"Leo's testing for his green belt this weekend," Fiona gushed proudly. "He's so great at Tae Kwon Do."

"I've seen him practicing. He looks like he has a lot of fun with it." Danni said, unwrapping a piece of bubble gum and popping it into her mouth. She held the pack out to her friends, silently asking them if they wanted a piece.

Sarah took one and the other two politely refused.

"So what's going on with Mr. Dillon, Miss Clarke?" Fiona asked slyly.

"Yeah, we want all the juicy details." Danni smirked.

"I can't believe I'm going to say this, but…" Louisa took a deep breath. "I fell in love with him the first moment I saw him."

Her friends remained silent.

She looked up at their shocked faces. "I honestly expected more of a verbal response to that."

"Um, babe," Danni pointed toward the front of the classroom.

"You know," Luke begin, pulling some papers out of his desk, and Louisa clasped her hands over her mouth, mortified, "when I said that I'd like to keep our personal lives out of the classroom, I meant it."

Sarah perked up. "Oh, I just remembered, I have to meet Jacob at the coffee shop."

"Oh, yeah, Leo's going to be there," Fiona pretended to realize.

"Wait for me, guys, I'm avoiding Eric," Danni joked, following her friends out of the classroom with a quick pat on Louisa's shoulder as silent support.

Louisa stared at Danni's seat and then slowly stood up from the desk. "I have to go."

"Louisa," Luke acknowledged before she could scurry out of the room.

"You know it's your fault," she snapped, turning around to glare at him.

"My fault?" Luke laughed, sitting on the edge of his desk and crossing his arms over his chest. "Enlighten me, Louisa, how is it _my_ fault that _you_ fell in love with me?"

Louisa scoffed. "You just drop into town and save my life, not to mention my daughter's life—"

"Anyone would have done what I did," Luke said easily.

"—and then you turn out to be our substitute and you're sweet and handsome and smart and funny—"

"Handsome?"

"Oh, and conceited I see." Louisa sighed.

"You're the one that said I was handsome, I'm just making sure I heard correctly."

"I said no such thing." She squared her shoulders proudly and continued on her way to the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me."

"Louisa," Luke gripped her arm to stop her. He leaned down a little so his head was beside hers. "Love, wait until my time as your substitute is over, and then we'll talk."

Louisa swallowed a gasp when his lips brushed against her cheek, and when he let her arm go, she hurried out of the room, trying to hold back a giddy smile.

* * *

"I can't do this," Michael shrugged, standing outside of the visiting room.

Emily cocked her head to side, looking at him thoughtfully. "Shouldn't I be the one nervous about this?"

"You want to see him, I don't. You forgave him, I can't." Michael said simply.

"Can you try to understand him?" Emily asked, taking his hands and entwining their fingers. "He was scared and angry and hurt, and he did something he shouldn't have. He realized what he was doing was wrong and tried to fix it."

"What are you saying?" Michael sighed.

"I'm saying that you two are a lot alike. You were scared and you made a mistake, but you fixed it. He did what he thought would make it up to me after all those years of pain: he let me go. Michael, I know you don't forgive him, and you didn't forgive yourself for a long time, but you will forgive him. Please, do this for me?"

Michael took a deep breath and nodded slowly.

Emily smiled brightly, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him down so their lips could meet. "I love you."

"I love you, too," he murmured, letting her pull him into the room. They sat at one of the tables, and Lawrence walked through the door on the other side of the room.

"Emily," he breathed, his eyes wide as he sat down, as if he couldn't believe she was there.

"Hey, dad," she smiled, placing a hand on Michael's shoulder. "This is Michael, my boyfriend."

"Hello, son," Lawrence held out his hand over the table.

Michael stared at it, contemplating whether he should shake it or not, when Emily gently jabbed her elbow against his arm, and he took Lawrence's hand reluctantly.

* * *

"I'll come back, dad," Emily promised.

"I love you, Peachy Girl," Lawrence said.

"I know."

"Michael," Lawrence said as his daughter made her way to the door after their visiting time had run out.

Michael swallowed and turned back to Lawrence slowly. "Yeah?"

"Take care of her for me?" He sighed, his eyes flitting back to Emily, waiting for Michael patiently. "I let her down, I let her mother down. Please make sure she's safe and happy. She trusts you."

"That's what I live for, sir," Michael nodded once, already heading back to the door.

Emily slipped her arm around Michael's back and his rested over her shoulders as they walked down the hallway to the building exit. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"I didn't say anything."

"What did he say to you?" She asked gently.

Michael kissed her temple. "He asked me to do what he never could, but what he's always wanted for you: to be safe and happy."

"And what did you say?"

"I promised. Darling," he stopped walking in the middle of the parking lot, taking her shoulders in his hands, "I live for you. There will never be another—this is it for me. I'm done. Making you happy and keeping you safe and waking up to you every morning and falling asleep beside you every night is all I want to do for the rest of my life. I wouldn't ask for anything else."

"What are you saying?" Emily murmured, holding his gaze with her emerald orbs.

"I'm saying," he said as he draped his arm over her shoulders again and continued to their car. "That when the time is right, when we're in the right place, I'm going to propose."

"This isn't the right place?" She laughed.

He smirked. "Who wants to be proposed to in a prison parking lot?"

"I wouldn't really mind." Emily shrugged.

Michael pulled her to a stop again. "Alright."

"What?" She whispered, watching him sink to one knee as he reached into his jacket pocket.

"Emily Beth Finley, almost four years ago, even though I was too much of an idiot douche to realize it at the time, I fell in love with you the first time I saw you blush. I fall in love all over again every time I see you blush, every time you kiss me, every time you laugh. Every time I lay eyes on you, I think, 'I want to spend the rest of my life with her.' You're the reason I strive to be better in everything I do. I've made mistakes, and I'll spend forever making them up to you. I'll do anything I can do make you happy and keep you safe. Will you make me the happiest man in the world? Will you marry me?"

"Yes. Of course, yes," she said, waiting patiently for him to slip the ring onto her finger before kissing him deeply. He stood up slowly and wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off the ground and spinning, causing her to laugh fondly against his lips.

* * *

**I didn't really plan for that last part to happen...it just sort of...did.**

**There will not be a Mimily wedding! **

**Maybe I'll write a oneshot or something though.**

**I do, however, have a oneshot planned for another couple that'll be like a bazillion words long and I've been putting off writing it until after WAYN is finished just because.**

**"We're only kids, honest and true, we're free to swing from the rope they try to hang us on. And swing from the rope, the rope that bound. And try to remember in our darkest hours that they can't, no, they won't keep us down." -Swing, Juliet Simms**

**-Rachel**


	26. Chapter 26

**Well this is a sucky chapter but the next (which will also be the last) will be better, I promise!**

**This is not _exactly _a filler...it's more like a chapter that kind of let's you know what's going on with a couple of the characters. The next chapter will take place a couple months from this one. :)**

**So we'll definitely be finished with this this week! Possibly today! AHH! :D**

* * *

Josh sighed deeply, pushing his fingers through his shower-damp hair, and leaned back in his desk chair.

_Oh, break it to me slow, before I lose control. I have to keep on holding on and I…. I'm asking you to stay, to give me one more day, and forget the past we made,_ Juliet Simms sang from his laptop.

Josh saved the essay he was typing up and closed the window, deciding on taking a break. He paused his music and left his bedroom, finding Michael and Emily in the kitchen. Emily smiled, meeting his eyes from behind her purple rimmed glasses.

"Hey, how's it going?" She asked.

"Fine. Just working on an essay and thought I'd break for a few minutes. What's for dinner?" He sat beside Emily at the counter, directing his question at Michael.

"Chicken."

"Chicken, chicken, chicken," Josh groaned.

Michael rolled his eyes. "Everyone loves chicken. Chickens love chicken."

"Are you okay?" Emily wondered, rubbing Josh's back as he rested his arms on the counter and laid his head on them.

"I'm soul searching," he joked.

"I hope you find the soul you're searching for," Michael said, receiving a laugh from Josh in response.

* * *

"Don't tell Amber about the engagement," Jerome said seriously, kissing his wife's cheek as he sat beside her on the sofa in their living room.

"I won't," Mara sighed, feigning exasperation, holding Tyler against her chest.

"And—"

"Shh, J, look at Rebecca." She pointed at their daughter on the floor, pushing up off her belly and slowly bobbing toward the foyer.

"Well, look at her go," Jerome smirked, watching her for a minute longer before standing up so he could stop her from going any further. "Great job, gorgeous," He murmured, kissing her forehead. She cooed in response, reaching a hand out to his hair.

He sat down again and placed Rebecca in his lap, leaning back on his stomach. She grabbed ahold of one of his fingers with on hand and shook his hand in excitement. When she lifted his finger to her mouth, he replaced his hand with a toy for her to chew on.

"J," Mara said thoughtfully.

"Yeah?" He smiled at her.

"I haven't heard you complaining about being old lately."

"I stopped complaining to you and started complaining to Eddie and Alfie. That's why Eddie stopped inviting me over to drink beer."

Mara laughed, leaning over and pecking his cheek.

* * *

"Oh, come on, admit it," Eric smirked, gripping the chains of Danni's swing and pulling her closer to him.

"I don't have any idea what you are referring to, Stanley," she replied innocently.

"You love being playful with me. Whether it's fighting or goofing off, you enjoy that. You can't deny it." He leaned forward until their faces were inches apart.

"I never did," she snickered.

"You've never denied loving me either—" Eric said slyly, freezing when Danni closed the distance between them and kissed him.

She broke the kiss when he let go of her swing's chains and pushed away from him.

"Surprise kisses," he said thoughtfully, "I like that."

* * *

Fiona took the green belt from Leo and smiled at him brilliantly. "Congratulations, I'm so proud of you!"

Leo grinned, halting in his tracks on the sidewalk when she cut him off. She looped the belt around his neck and pulled his head down so their lips could meet. When they separated, Fiona's eyebrows fell together as she looked at him in curiosity.

"What's this?" she asked, lifting a hand to gently touch his skin above his right eye with the tips of her fingers.

Leo felt the spot she was focused on and realization dawned on his face. "Oh, that's just a scar I got when I got hit by the car."

"Aw, sweetie," Fiona giggled, "It's so cute."

Leo laughed, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her into his side, so they could continue their walk.

* * *

"Mum, dad," Louisa said, popping into the kitchen.

"What's up, princess?" Jerome wondered, biting into a bright red apple.

"I'm in trouble."

"What is it?" Mara asked, giving Louisa her full attention.

Louisa blushed. "Remember that guy, Luke Dillon?"

Her parents nodded in reply.

"Well, I, um, I've run into him a couple time since the hospital and…I'm in love with him."

Jerome blinked. "Good."

"Good?" Louisa scoffed. "No, daddy, you don't understand."

"I understand perfectly. You love him and he loves you."

"No, he doesn't love me—"

Jerome shook his head with a small smile tugging at the corners of his thin lips. "Yes, he does. I saw it when I met him at the hospital. He fell in love with you that day."

Louisa stared at Jerome in shock.

"You guys are lucky. Not many people fall in love so soon." Jerome smiled at his wife when she carded her hand through his hair.

"But he's my substitute teacher for history, daddy. He's twenty-four years old." Louisa said gently, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, that is a problem. The teacher part, not the age difference. My grandmother was fifteen years older than my grandfather, after all." Jerome murmured. He directed a curious smile in Louisa's direction. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"He told me to wait until after his substitute time is over," Louisa told them.

Mara shrugged her small shoulders. "Then that's what you do."

"I love you guys," Louisa gushed.

"We love you, too, darling," Mara replied, kissing Louisa's temple.

* * *

Alice finished pulling shirts off of hangers and began folding them on Justin's bed while Justin sorted through things he had in his desk drawers.

"So," he sighed from the corner of the room, flipping through several CD cases, "Was I the last person to know that they were doing it behind my back?"

Alice pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh.

"I mean, it wasn't hard to figure out. Did you know?" Justin stood up and sat on the edge of his bed so he could see Alice better.

She nodded a gently, avoiding his eyes. "How'd you figure it out, then?"

"Well, a couple weeks ago, I called Jen up and I was like, 'Hey, what are you doing later?' And she said that she was going to the mall. And I was confused because she didn't invite me. So I called Jackson and asked him what he was up to and he said he was going to the mall. And I was wondering if all of my friends were going to hang out without me. So I called you and you said that you weren't doing anything." Justin scoffed and Alice laughed, sitting beside him, fiddling with the collar of the shirt she was folding.

"A couple days later, I call each of you and ask you all what you're doing. Jenna said she was going to hang out at home, Jackson said the same thing, and you said that you weren't doing anything." Justin shrugged. "So I put two and two together."

"So why didn't you freak like Jenna said you would?" Alice asked.

"Because once I figured it out, I was getting ready to leave for the states and before I knew it, they told me they were dating. I would've killed him, but now? If I killed him now, Jenna would kill me. So I'm just going to have to accept it. He's a good guy though."

"Yeah, he is," Alice agreed. "He'll take good care of her."

"I'm sure," Justin nodded, facing her with a smile.

Silence lingered between the two of them for a minute before Justin stood up, breaking eye contact with her, and went back to sorting through his junk drawer.

* * *

**So I know this is coming to a close, but I do promise that I'll be continuing with writing for these characters. I might find a different place for those oneshots/stories because they don't entirely classify as fanfictions, therefore, they don't belong here. Who knows, maybe these stories will be the first things I'll finish as "novels" when I fix them up one day (probably after I graduate ;).**

**But the good news is that I can start working on my other stories! XD**

**"Sometimes when I think of your name, and it's only a game, and I need you. Listening to the words that you say, getting harder to stay, when I see you. All I needed was the love you gave, all I needed for another day. All I ever knew, only you." -Only You, The Flying Pickets**

**-Rachel**


	27. Chapter 27

**ALRIGHT.**

**Let's do this!**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Justin sighed. "Yes, dad, I have everything. Would you calm down? You're worse than mom."

Eddie refrained from rolling his eyes and focused on the road in front of the car. "Do you want to stop by the Lewis'?"

"No, I already said goodbye to everyone. Except for Alice—could we head over to the Clarke's?" Justin asked.

When Eddie pulled up to the curb, Justin hopped out and jogged up to the front porch of the Clarke household.

"Hi, Justin," Matty greeted when he opened the door after Justin rang the doorbell.

"Hey, man, is Alice home?"

"Yeah," Matty nodded.

Justin smiled a little when the kid didn't move from the doorway. "Could you go get her for me?"

Matty nodded again and took off toward the staircase, running up to the second floor. A second later, Alice came down the steps and smiled at Justin.

"Hey," she said, cocking her head. "It's time, isn't it?"

"I'll be back. No one has faith in me," Justin scoffed, throwing his hands in the air in exasperation.

"We all have faith in you," Alice stated. "Hey, bring me back a souvenir?"

"You got it."

"Don't give up."

"I'll just remember you saying that and it'll keep me going," he winked.

Alice took his face in her hands and brought their lips together.

Justin chuckled when they broke the kiss simultaneously and shook his head. "Nope, still not going to happen."

"I'll see you when you get back," Alice laughed, pushing him toward the yard. "Good luck, soldier."

* * *

"Louisa," Luke acknowledged in delight, a smile playing on his lips. "What can I do for you?"

"Today was your last day, wasn't it?" She asked.

"Yes, it was. How did you like the final lesson?" He loosened his gray tie a little, a mischievous twinkle in his pale blue eyes.

"I really enjoyed it. I really love learning about the world, you know. I'd like to visit Iceland one day." She replied, adjusting her book bag strap on her shoulder.

Luke nodded, leaning against the edge of his desk. "As would I."

"I just wanted to say, on behalf of the whole class, we really enjoyed having you as our teacher and we're going to miss you."

"Thank you, Louisa."

"Have a nice day," she smiled, making her way to the door.

Luke pushed off the desk urgently but didn't move from where he stood. "Louisa."

She turned to him. "Yes?"

"Isn't there something you wanted to tell me?"

"I did tell you what I wanted to tell you." She replied.

Luke blinked. "No, besides that. Remember? A few months ago, you said something you were supposed to say when I was finished as your substitute?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about." Louisa shrugged sympathetically, leaving the room.

Luke stared at the door in confusion, rushing for it, and peered down the empty hallway at Louisa walking toward the school's exit. He sighed, pushing his bangs back with his fingers and hurrying down the hallway after her. "Louisa!"

"Yes, Mr. Dillon?" Louisa turned to him again.

"You want me to say it?" He locked eyes with her and held her gaze steadily.

"Say what?"

"Let me jog your memory, love."

Louisa watched at him with curiosity shining in her eyes.

"I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you."

Louisa innocent smile grew into a happy grin. "You forget that I'm one of the top students in drama class. I'm like, crazy talented."

Luke rolled his eyes at her joking tone and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into his body. Louisa's hands landed on his shoulders and slid up to his hair, and Luke pressed his lips to hers.

* * *

_This song is my way of saying what I need to say. I am proud, I am strong, and you've been here all along. I didn't know it until today, but I'm so glad that it happened this way. _

Josh kicked a rock across the sidewalk, slipping his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. He mouthed the words to the _Automatic Loveletter_ song, basking in the warmth of the sun, enjoying his walk through the park.

_I've had enough, I'm in love, it's true. So, don't, don't take it away, 'cause I've got my eye on you._

He took a seat on a park bench as the song came to an end and another started, but he stood again immediately when his eyes fell on the playground. He started walking toward it, eyeing the slide where two long legs were crossed at the ankles, the person they were connected to laying at the top. Josh pocketed his earbuds and quietly made his way around to the opposite side to the steps. He walked slowly, careful not to make any noise, and he crawled up to the slide.

_Eyes On You _was playing into black earbuds and Josh quickly paused the song.

Alex's dark brown eyes shot open and he stared up at Josh in shock.

"Hey," Josh smirked.

Alex's face broke out into a wide grin, the dimple that Josh would never admit he loved appearing in his left cheek. "Hey."

* * *

**Let your imagination play with that little Jalex thing. ;)**

**Thank you everyone for putting up with my horribly terrible plot and writing through three whole stories! I swear, I love this story so much, that one day I'll get to fixing it and maybe turning it into something original, if I don't just rewrite the whole thing! ;) Thank you for all the support and believing that I've got potential as a writer- it is truly my dream to be a successful author some day. Xxx You're all so sweet and loyal! :D**

**So here's a couple things y'all should know:**

**1\. I will continue writing for the characters, but I'm still trying to decide on where I should put these things. They're all basically originals, and I've asked this question before, but do y'all think I should put them up on FictionPress or Tumblr? I know some people don't have a Tumblr, so it might be best to have it on FictionPress but idk, so y'all decide. :)**

**2\. I'm going to get working on a oneshot called _When Everything Turns to Gray _so keep an eye out for that! It'll be insanely long- I'm going for 14,000 words. XD**

**3\. I'm going to start working on my other fanfics and hopefully finish some of those soon! **

**"Now, I'm flying, hanging on the wind, following the night, and I ride. Leave gravity behind, following the light. Finally, I can breathe. I, I bury all my doubts. I've learned to live without the fear of endless scars." -A Dying Star, In This Moment**

**-Rachel**


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